


The Arrangement

by Rosella1356



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU season 4, Arranged Marriage, BDSM, But torture, Character Death, Dean being a great parent, Family Issues, Found Family, God is a dick, God's the bad guy, Hurt/Comfort, John Winchester's A + Parenting, Lucifer's kids, Lucifer's trying his best, M/M, Mentions of past abuse, More like consensual pain to avoid gruesome death, Not graphic and not long, Not major but not minor, Not quite normal BDSM, Random plot points from canon, Redemption, Torture, i don't know how to tag, so we're adding as we go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2020-11-27 21:36:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 63
Words: 181,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20955296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosella1356/pseuds/Rosella1356
Summary: Lucifer looked into the future when Dean first landed in hell to see what the end result would be if he let Alistair convince the righteous man to spill blood in hell. He really doesn't like this future, because one he dies, but also because he finds it odd that he almost became a good guy. He wants to try that path this time, which leads to him asking Dean a different question instead of Alistair.





	1. The Proposal

Dean had long since lost the ability to scream. The torture never stopped. That’s not necessarily true.

Alistair had a sick habit of making sure that once Dean was in enough pain to stay there for multiple minutes without deviating from the pain level, then he’ll start talking. He’ll tell Dean that one day soon, he’ll have a choice to make. That the pain will stop if he says yes. That all he has to do is say yes.

Dean never knows what the question will be, but he knows that he’ll say no for as long as he possibly can. He doesn’t know when that will be. He doesn’t even know whether at this point he’ll have enough will left to say no the first time at the rate they’re going with this torture. He can’t speak, he can’t scream. All he can do is suffer.

That’s why when the pain stops, Dean sits there gasping expecting the question to come. But Alistair doesn’t walk around him. There’s someone else, someone new. He’s never seen this person, and he’s not sure he wants to know who this person is. 

“Dean Winchester, the righteous man.” A pause, but Dean can’t speak, his throat is far too raw to even try to make sounds. “I am Lucifer, the devil and God’s most hated.”

“See we’re going down a path to a future I’ve seen, but I hate that future. Alistair will ask you to torture souls for him in return from a break. You’ll resist for weeks, then you’ll say yes. My brother will come save you from hell, your brother will break the final seal, and hell will be unleashed on earth. But it never ends there. No, we’ll all go around in circles trying to save the people we love and starting apocalypse after apocalypse. There will even be a point where I try to be the good guy. Then I’ll be dead, you’ll be broken, my brother will have suffered more than any angel before him, and your brother will hate everything including himself. I don’t like this future, and I don’t think you like it very much either.”

Dean wants to scream no, and he wants to ask what any of this meant. He doesn’t understand the rules of the devil. He barely understands the rules of demons. But he can’t bring the syllables to pass his lips. Eventually, tears start streaming down his face as he realizes that he won’t be able to speak. He can’t answer. Maybe this is the new form of torture. Offer him reprieve if he can just force his body to speak.

“Oh, you can’t talk.” Footsteps echo as the man calling himself Lucifer walks away. 

Dean wants to sob. He wants to beg the man to stay. While he was here, Alistair stayed far away. There was no additional pain when he was here, and that’s all that Dean wants at this point, then he feels a cup edge at his lips.

The man stands above him with a soft gleam in his eyes. “Drink. You could distrust me if you want, I might in your situation. I have no way to prove to you this will help. By now you’ve learned that demons don’t get affected by the poisons they inflict on those they torture, so the choice is yours.”

Dean knows the man is right. This could be a trap, another mental game to make him lose a bit more of his sanity. But at this point, he can’t bring himself to care. All he wants is something to soothe his throat enough that he can ask his questions. Maybe this is too dangerous of a game to be playing, but he’s never been the smartest at risk assessment. He drinks the liquid in small sips, not wanting to give up any of the gain by up-heaving his entire stomach. 

The liquid isn’t water, but Dean can’t place the taste. The burning in his throat subsides immediately, which he knows isn’t normal. He wonders whether this was a type of medicine offered before they gave him a choice. “I don’t like the future you described, but is there one that does anything else. I don’t know how visions of the future work. Aren’t they set in stone?”

Lucifer laughs as he stares at Dean. “I forget that this version of you was still so naïve in the ways of the world. I am still an archangel. Regardless of how low God may have thrown me to the ground, he cannot undo what he’s already done. All of us have the ability to see the future. That is the one that exists with the most certainty so it’s the only one I can watch play out in its entirety.”

“And you don’t really want to end up dead.” That is a sentiment Dean can understand. That’s something that Dean can piece together. It might be small, but to him understanding even an aspect of what the devil is telling him is an accomplishment.

Lucifer nods. “And I don’t want to destroy either your or your brother’s soul. That would fix my dilemma, but I’d never get out of hell. And I’d never be able to be the good guy. In the future I saw, I only managed it for a couple days, but I know once in heaven I did it constantly. I’d like to be a better person than what my father sees in me.”

Dean never really believed much about religion, but here he was talking to the devil like they were old friends and maybe they were. He certainly understands wanting to be a better man than your father thought you were. “Don’t most children? What is the main problem with letting me go?”

Lucifer nods emphatically. “That is an extremely smart question. Full credit to you for thinking of it. Michael wants your soul as the other me in the other universe wants Sam’s. If I let you go, he’s still going to force the actions of the other universe. He’s good at forcing things to go his way. He never looks at the future. Otherwise, he’d know that if he goes through with this, he dies in less than a year. You kill him rather than giving him what he wants.”

“How can he have my soul without my consent?”

“He’d need your consent, but because of the bond between your souls, it’s much more likely that you’ll eventually just give in because his arguments sound like your arguments, and he’ll know your every fear, and he’ll give you what you want.”

Dean blinks a couple of times. He wonders that if this is the devil just how far he can push his good will right now. He can barely stand the idea of going back to torture, but he doesn’t understand the things being told to him at this moment, and how is he supposed to make an informed decision. “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. Why is there a bond between me and Michael?”

Lucifer pauses and looks over at Dean. His head cocks to one side as he regards the man still laying on the rack. He could leave and lets the fates have their way just like his father always planned. The nature of his curse thrums under his skin to do just that, but he doesn’t want to. He wants to be a better man, and he wants to learn from the righteous man, who even here and now, without the knowledge of the lives he takes later in another universe, will sit and listen. 

Dean flinches when Lucifer stands up, but he grabs another cup and lifts it to Dean’s lips. 

“You may as well gain strength as I explain this to you. I have no idea how good of a teacher I am, so interrupt with your questions, and I’ll try to adapt my story to fit you. Okay?”

Dean nods immediately. If asking questions is the only requirement to get more of the liquid that soothes the ache in his bones, then he’ll pay it gladly. Just as though he knows that even knowing the tortures of hell, he’d make the same bargain to save his brother. Every single time. 

“So dear, old dad, you humans call him God, created the universe. Only he wasn’t alone. I had an aunt Amara. A wonderful, batshit crazy woman who tends to want to destroy what dad breaks. They have this attention seeking tendency to gather attention to the other. Anyway, dad got angry when Auntie Amara wanted to blow up his humans. I know you’re shocked. This is before I fell. The humans got my story all messed up. I didn’t particularly want to love them more than my father, but he didn’t require me to.”

“Hold on, you didn’t fall because of crimes against the human race?”

“No.”

Dean nods once or twice or maybe once his head started bobbing it didn’t stop. He’s not really sure. Hell mucks with his senses something fierce. “All I know of the Christian doctrine is vague, but that’s one of the only facts I thought I knew.”

“Most humans think they know that one. Anyway, dad gathered us, the archangels, and we fought Amara back into the darkness. But dad had to have a way to keep her there. He created the mark of Cain. Someone had to bear the burden of the urge to kill every living thing they ever came across. That’s me, dad’s favorite gets to be the little murder monster.”  
“Seems like a dick move,” Dean offers. He can’t quite tell if he’s hallucinating it, but that statement seemed like it was doused in self-pity and resentment. He doesn’t know whether he’s supposed to be on the devil’s side, but at this moment, he’s pretty confident that he is. 

Lucifer offers Dean a smile as he contains laughter. Only the righteous man would stand in front of the devil and call God a dick. “Agreed. Anyway, that’s when I went on a rampage against the angels, because surprise wanting to kill everything hurts. Dad panicked, built a cage, also known as hell, and threw me in. The humans called me evil. None of my siblings would talk to me. Dad ignored me, so I was going a bit crazy. Then some human, crazy bastard, decided to kill his brother. Dad put the mark on him, or maybe Cain chose to the mark. I was a bit insane at the moment, having gone a good couple thousand years alone.”

“Wait you helped save the human race, lock up God’s alter ego murderous sister, and they ignored you for a few thousand years?”

“Why does that confuse you?”

Dean pauses to run back through his tone, he didn’t think he was confused. No, he hears the anger in his voice and running through his bones. “It doesn’t confuse me, it pisses me off. See if God were here in front of us, I’d be punching him in the face.”

That pulls another smile to Lucifer’s face. “Perhaps, if you wish to stay among the land of the living, you shouldn’t punch my father.”

Dean looks around confused for a moment. “I was pretty sure, I was dead.”

“Oh, that’s a solid place to be confused by for humans. This is the life after death. Your soul still exists so you are still living.”

Dean takes in that information for a moment before nodding. He’s still alive according to the angel. He might be broken, and his brain might be losing all sanity, but he’s alive. “So the human, who I seem to recall is named Cain killed his brother.”

“Right. So, he gets the mark, and God sends him down here. This is the first contact I’ve had in years, but Cain made me look like a saint with the mark. He didn’t just want to kill, he wanted to burn the world down. He reminded me of Aunt Amara. I convinced him that rather than doing it himself, because the one with the mark is immortal. No living thing can kill them. Not an archangel, not God, not even Aunt Amara. That we should create demons and send them out to do the dirty work because once souls were here, we could hurt them for eternity. He loved this plan.”

“Hell was created so that humans could live?”

Lucifer nods.

Dean laughs then it gets louder and louder. “Do you understand how ironic that is? Humans think this is the place created to make them suffer for having the audacity to live, and it turns out hell is the consequence of being able to live.”

“That is quite ironic. But back to my portion of the story. When demons were created, God made a few choice decisions to influence the fates. Primarily that there would be a war between heaven and hell that would wipe out the human race on Earth. The first step is the righteous man spilling blood in hell. That’s what Alistair is hoping to force you into, and what I’m hoping to avoid. Blah, blah, blah other various steps that you don’t need to know. Then Michael and Lucifer must convince the brothers to take on the angel that supports them. You were to be Michael’s as the righteous man. Sam was to be mine as the rebellious little brother.”

“Fuck your father. Sorry, man, I’m sure you loved him at one point, but creating a fate where your children must fight is terrible parenting.”  
“Yes, I wish to avoid that fight as well.”

“But I’m bonded to your brother, and you can’t help but wonder if one day, he’ll figure out how to convince me to say yes. And then you’d have to go after Sam because if only one of you has the vessel, then that angel is guaranteed to win the fight, and your demons and Cain would be too angry to fight for you.”

“Precisely. Now you understand, so you can answer my proposal.”

Dean nods immediately. Whatever solution that Lucifer has come up with, must be one that will avoid the future he’s seen, and Dean doesn’t want to find out the ending to that path. He suspects it will end with him dead, his brother dead, and the world exactly as broken as it was before them. “Lay it on me. What’s the plan?”

“You misunderstand, I meant a proper proposal from what humans use. We get married, because that will make my claim on you and your soul greater than any Michael has.”

“Married?” Dean feels his head get lighter. He knows better than to be with a man. His father was angry enough at the idea that he dared to be a person over a hunter, but he lost it when he thought Dean had been with a man.

“Yes. Of course, I understand that marrying the devil wasn’t a plan of yours, so I’ll try to give you as much power as I can. I would like you to be a monarch of hell and rule with me to try and fix things, but other than that, I have no requests. We will have to consummate the marriage once to ensure that the bond is cemented, but I won’t require that from you either.”

Dean’s breathing starts coming out more and more shallow. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m about to pass out.” Then the darkness overcomes him.

Lucifer tilts his head at the unconscious body. He waves a hand and the ropes fall off Dean’s body. He picks him up to carry him to his chambers. The time he let the others rule hell in his stead were over, and he hopes it’s not too late to change the way the world will happen.


	2. The Answer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean asks questions, receives some interesting answers, and gives the most important answer himself.

Dean blinks his eyes open. He expects to be on the rack with Alistair grinning above him, telling him how unfortunate it was that Dean cut some of their time short, which is why he gasps when he feels silk underneath them. That’s when he remembers that according to his memories, he spent most of the time before waking up with Lucifer.

Oh shit, he needs to respond to that proposal immediately. He doesn’t really want to be married to the devil, he doesn’t really do long-term commitment, but he does not want the future Lucifer described. Plus, it would prove his father wrong about all of the bullshit about gay people.

“I should probably make sure the possible relationship doesn’t end before it begins. I am sorry that I caused you to pass out. I gave you my blood to accelerate your healing, I should have known it would have other effects on a human.”

Dean focuses towards the seat next to him to stare at the strange man again. He can’t pinpoint what the man looks like, probably he realizes because this person is actually not a person but an archangel. “Could have also been the memories of my father having a full on panic at the idea I might be attracted to guys, or the overload of information followed by a proposal. Not normal occurrences for us little guys.”

Lucifer raises an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t call you one of the little guys. Sure, you’re human, but even before all of the alternate universe comes into play, you’ve saved the world from regular monsters that should have been able to kill you. You’ve taken on a prince of hell. By the way that was a hell of a decision.”

Dean sighs. “No, I’m pretty confident we’re tiny compared to the fates of the world. Before I tell you yes or no, will you answer some of my questions?”

“Yes. If we’re going to be in this together, than we need to start working together now.”

Dean pauses to organize his thoughts so that he can ask proper questions in an order that makes sense with the lab. “What will happen with my brother?”

“Two choices, both are completely up to you, which one you would prefer. Option one, we tell him that you’ve made a deal with the devil, will no longer be tortured, but you’ll be staying in hell. He’ll probably move on with his life. I can make sure he can get back into law school, so he can follow the dreams he had before he got dragged back into the hunter world. Option two, we tell him the truth. Albeit, that will require time and effort, and I can’t be on Earth at all.”

“Hold on, why can’t you be on Earth? I don’t think we covered that in the angel 101 course from yesterday.”

Lucifer chuckles. He leans over flicks the wall behind Dean to ensure that no demons were attempting to eavesdrop on their conversation. “The vessel I am currently in has already been used up in the world up there. Archangel’s cannot be contained within a vessel without god directly intervening to make the humans more open to us, like he did with you and your brother, but we don’t want your brother to be stuck without a body, so that’s out of the question. Also, that would make the wedding night awkward for you.”

“Damn straight that would be awkward. I’ll have to deal with enough of my issues with the fact I’m attracted to men, don’t need to add dealing with it being my brother’s body even if it isn’t necessarily my brother.”  
Lucifer pauses to consider him for a moment. “Do these questions work both ways?”

“Of course,” Dean says without pause. He hopes he hasn’t given the devil the opinion that he’s trying to force any of the issues. He’s really trying to understand how this will work and what will happen if he says yes. He doesn’t want the poor guy to think that this is him trying to find a way out of this.

“What issues do you have with me being in a male vessel? As an angel, I am not restricted to the gender code of a human, and if it would make you feel better, I could potentially find a woman near death in the mortal world to wear instead.”

“Okay, I’m going to do you a favor and answer you first then ask my question about that response. My father, whom you probably heard of since he’s the one who was trying to kill yellow eyes, had a real problem with the idea of me being gay. He wouldn’t quite punish me for it, but he’d make his displeasure known, and he’d let me take more hits on the hunts. I learned to ignore that portion of myself for a long time, and by the time he was dead, and maybe I could have started to learn how to accept myself, I made a deal for my soul in return for my brother.”

Lucifer reaches out then thinks better of it and tucks his hand back into his lap almost as fast as he manages to get it out there. Physical comfort had been denied to him for long enough that he craves it, and he desperately wants to return the favor to others, but now is not the time to unlock that portion of his own issues. “My offer still stands, if you do not wish to deal with your inner demons yet. I understand having those in abundance better than most.”

“From what I recall from yesterday those demons are what we’re trying to fight with this marriage. No, I’ll deal with my inner demons right alongside you. Perhaps, we’ll help each other overcome the evils that we’ve been battling within ourselves. Lucifer, you’ve told me you want to reform hell, will be working on that together?”

“I’d prefer for us to work together, but if you want nothing to do with this, I won’t blame you. I’d ask that you support me, but you would be free to work on whatever issues you wish instead.”

Dean shakes his head. He can’t bring himself to be surprised that Lucifer didn’t understand his meaning the first time. He really should work on calling him Lucifer at least in his own head, since the devil has way too many connotations that Dean wishes to avoid. “You misunderstood, that was me trying to figure out my place, not me asking not to be a part of it. If we’re battling to reform hell, can we try to save the mortal world from some of their evils as well?”

Lucifer freezes then nods. “Yes, of course you’d want to continue your battles anyway. I will help you, Dean Winchester in whatever fights you choose to start. Regardless of whether you take my hand in marriage, even if that means, I won’t be around for long. Regardless of how many eyes that will draw to us and how many wars we will have to win, I will stand by your side. That’s what the other universe taught me. You deserve the loyalty of every single person, every single angel, and all the demons. And even if I stand alone behind you, that is where I shall be.”

Dean glances over. “That sounded binding. Are you capable of breaking what you just swore?” At Lucifer’s shake of his head, Dean laughs. “Right, maybe let’s keep the unbreakable bonds to a minimum. I don’t need your fate on my hands too. If we’re starting wars, I want Sammy to know everything. Will that bother you?”

“No. Your brother is a worthy hunter, and he’s still a good man. I killed the demon that was going to corrupt him. I didn’t want him to suffer. If you want him on our team, then he shall be there.”

“Can I ask to tell Bobby?”

“You can ask for anything or about anything. I won’t deny you that. You deserve that much in a relationship. If you can swear to me that Bobby won’t try to kill you when you tell him, then I’ve got no problem with him,” Lucifer clarifies. 

Dean lets out all of his breaths as he runs through everything they’ve said. “Then, I’ll marry you. We’ll piss off the fates and angels and God, and we'll try to win with all the odds stacked against us. If I could ask for a favor though, can you give me another ten to twelve hours of sleep before we start any plans? I find that I’m extremely tired after all that torture.”

Lucifer leans over him and pulls up the blanket over him. He tucks Dean into the safety of his bed, in his room, within his realm. “Of course. You’ll be safe here.” Then, he walks out of the room.

Dean should be worried about that statement, he should be worried that without Lucifer next to him, the torture will start again. But Lucifer said he’d be safe, and despite the evidence against it, he’s chosen to trust Lucifer. Both with his safety and now with his heart and future. Let’s hope he can talk Sammy down from trying to kill the angel the second he hears the word Lucifer. He wants to fight the fates that hurt people based off the words of one, and he hopes that Lucifer will be next to him as he does. With that final thought, his mind drifts off into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You get two chapters this week, because someone how the fates were kind to me with homework this week.


	3. The Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet an important character, and we tell someone who isn't inside the engagement what's happening.

Lucifer leaves his bedroom with one last glance at the human curled up in his bed. He didn’t expect to remember the man he was before he fell in the future, but his father had needed him. That’s the one thing that never managed to leave, his love for his father. He doesn’t like God, but he’ll always love God. 

As he walks down the corridors, Alistair steps into pace next to him. “Have you decided to try a different plan to break the man? I know pain will always force humans to do as we wish, but the other methods are occasionally more fun.”

Lucifer turns to regard the demon standing next to him. He’ll ask Crowley later whether he thinks the demon’s head will make a decent engagement present. Normally, he’d go for more traditional methods, but he can’t easily leave hell right now, and all the demons he sends out are being interrogated by the younger Winchester for his brother’s whereabouts. He’ll make do regardless. 

His silence covers the room for a long period of time to the point even Alistair doesn’t look as happy to be present in the room, but he doesn’t flinch or fall behind. That’s impressive for a demon, most of them know better than to possibly incur his anger. “I’ve decided not to try to free myself.”

“What, my lord?”

“I know the paths these things take better than any of you do, and I don’t like the ending that happens should we make the ones we were planning. So, I am changing things up. This is not up for debate. Do me a favor and tell the others.”

Alistair flattens his mouth. “Is this why you stopped Ruby from continuing to corrupt the little Winchester to the dark side where it would be easier for you to corrupt him to your side?”

Lucifer snaps his fingers, and the demon falls to the ground gasping in pain. “You don’t get to ask me questions. Not unless I decide they are worthy of my attention. Now, you’re going to do two things. You’re going to tell me where Crowley is, and you’re going to go spread my new memo.”

Alistair nods. “Yes, my lord. Whatever you wish, it is mine to do. Crowley, the coward, happens to be in the throne room waiting for you.”

Lucifer turns on his heel to get to the throne room faster. Unsurprisingly, no other demons dare to stop him as he marches past them. He’s almost grateful for that, because he can’t possibly handle dealing with any more pointless souls trying to understand why the most pain isn’t the best plan. That’s why he needs Crowley. The demon may be a pain and quite honestly a little bit good, but he understands that the war isn’t just about heaven and hell.

The doors fall apart for him as he steps into his throne room. He glances around the room to see a couple other demons than Crowley in the space. That won’t do for the plans that he has, and what he needs to tell the demon. “Anyone who is not called Crowley, get out of my sight before I decide to blow you up instead of dealing with you.”

As demons filter out of the room, Crowley stays in his bowed state. He doesn’t wish to anger the devil, when he’s going to be the only person in the room for an extended period of time. That promises to possibly end with his death. 

“Stand up. Or rather sit down. I have a story to tell you, and I need you to not interrupt me or ask questions until I’m done. Can you manage that?”

Crowley drags his body off its bended state and sits down on one of the other chairs in the room, much lower than Lucifer’s but that’s just the way hell works in its politics. He nods once to tell his master that he understands that for the day his only job is to listen to the story that Lucifer chooses to tell him. 

Lucifer starts telling him all of the future. He doesn’t pause like he did for Dean, and he doesn’t skip all of the gory details. He lays all of it down in front of the crossroads demon. He makes sure to mention in particular all of the pain that each one of them goes through at different portions of this dark and twisted future. By the time he’s finished, he’s out of breath and about seconds from breaking down in front of this demon who can’t be trusted.

Crowley lets out a breath after he realizes that his lord is done speaking. He contains the shivers running down his spine. Letting Lucifer know a fear, is akin to letting God know your sins. You don’t do it unless you particularly want to suffer for long periods of time. “So, we need a different future.”

“That might be an understatement, Crowley.”

“I meant it as a starting point, my lord.”

Lucifer considers this response for a moment and decides that yes this is a good enough place to start the discussions. “I can’t allow Dean to have the option of saying yes to Michael.”

Crowley bites down on his lip, drawing blood to the surface as he debates the many different options that he could assist with for that purpose. “I can think of three solutions to that problem. One, we bond his soul to someone else, equally strong as Michael to stop that from ever occurring. Of course, you’re the only one we have that could bind someone to something that strong. Two, we could kill him here and call in a favor from a reaper to drop his soul out into the nothingness. Death might come after us though if we go that route, and I don’t relish fighting him, but that is your decision to make as all things are. Three, we could make him a demon. Michael will never sully himself to be associated with a demon even if it would give him the world.”

Lucifer claps impressed. He’d had the first two in his head and had run the same pros and cons that Crowley did. Even he didn’t really want to make an enemy out of death. He’d prefer an easier mechanism to get this problem solved. The third one hadn’t even dawned on him, although the demon is right on his brother’s motives. “Good job. I’ve already chosen and started one, but good job immediately attempting to help me solve these issues. Your enthusiasm amuses me greatly, since it rivals my own.”

“I don’t particularly want to join a future where I attempt to overthrow you and promptly get my ass handed to me. I almost want to know what dumb ideas went into my head to make me think that this would ever work. I may never know, and I am honestly happier for it.”

“I don’t really want to end up dead. So, we’re going to marry Dean Winchester to me.”

“Marriage. I was not expecting that particular bonding situation. I was thinking maybe eternal slavery. Maybe, even fealty if you didn’t want to return to slavery in any sense.”

Lucifer pauses trying to understand why Crowley’s surprise wasn’t expected. Then he realized he had forgotten to explain one of the key aspects of his plan. The fact that he doesn’t plan on allowing the world to continue on any portions of the path of that universe. “I forgot to tell you one other important portion of these plans.”

“I am ready, my lord.”

“We’re not going to be the bad guys like my father keeps pushing us to be. We’re going to break the curse, one step at a time.”

Crowley nods. This wasn’t expected, but he could make himself useful in this situation as well. He could be valuable with his knowledge of the humans, he could be handy with his contacts in heaven, and he would stay alive. That’s his only goal. That’s his only goal most of the time. “Hence, marrying the righteous man. He will pretty much force you to be good for small amounts of time. Might I suggest waiting to try to reform aspects of hell until after the wedding?”

“You may suggest it, but I would advice you to give a reason to avoid peeving me.”

“If you push changes, before you’re married to the Winchester, and they see him as the corruption that’s causing you to change, he’ll be a large target. He’ll be target afterwards too, but he’ll be able to call upon some power to help him out.”

Lucifer grins over at Crowley. “Then we won’t push anything until the wedding has finished, which alas will be after the man tells his brother and someone named Bobby. Out of curiosity, do you think he’d like Alistair’s head as an engagement present?”

“Not as much as he’d love yellow eyes. Alistair scares him because of all the torture, but yellow eyes inspires a level of hatred in him that I didn’t think I’d ever see. It’s almost as if he’s willing to let an apocalypse begin if it means that demon’s head is on a wall, mounted and unable to cause anymore harm.”

Lucifer nods. “Thank you for your service. Please continue doing any actions that you think could come in handy for any of our new objectives without telling anyone with unreputable alliances. When you leave, send in any of the demons brave enough to wait outside after I dismissed them. Their dedication pleases me enough to hold court.”

Crowley bows as he leaves the throne room, making sure to tell the few demons that the lord of darkness would see them now. He wonders whether Dean will have a problem with that name or whether that will be one of the few things that stays constant through out the transition in hell.


	4. The Torture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I am terrible to Dean, but Crowley comes to save the day or more accurately get someone to save the day.

Dean wakes up in a bed and almost believes that all of this is a pretty lie that he’s been dreaming for a while. That his deal with hell hasn’t been called yet. Then his memories of hell filter back in, and he sighs. 

He should probably get up and try to stretch the muscles that he hasn’t used in ages. If he’s going to be marrying the devil, he should probably be in better shape. Especially since Lucifer had told him of the plans to save both earth and hell. That’ll be an interesting set of battles that he deals with.

He’ll try to explain things to Sammy first, because Sammy can help him convince Bobby that this isn’t quite as insane of a plan as it really is. Of all the things that could have happened to him in hell, this was not in his wildest dreams. 

Part of him wants to go explore the world around him now that he’s not being tortured, but he doesn’t know whether Lucifer would want him to leave. He doesn’t really want to start that relationship off on the wrong foot, nor does he want to end up in a situation where a demon doesn’t know he’s engaged to their leader and decides to torture him. 

Loud voices come from the hall, and Dean’s positive an argument is brewing, but he doesn’t hear Lucifer’s voice, so he stays quiet on his place in the bed. His eyes glance around the room, looking for anything he could use as a weapon in case one of them decides to attempt to break in but finds nothing. He supposes that he wouldn’t keep weapons near someone who recently got saved from immense torture. They might try something drastic, and that would not help Lucifer’s plan.

Finally, the door bursts inwards. Both yellow eyes and Alistair walk inside. Neither of them seem to be pleased with Dean’s appearance. 

Dean gathers the last of his wits and fights down the urge to cower. If anything could make him cower after being tortured by demons, it would be his torturer and his mother’s killer to be standing in front of him at the same time with that piercing gaze. 

“Pretty boy, what are you doing so far from the racks? Even having the nerve to soil our lord’s sheets with your human skin. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I wonder what Lucifer will let us do to you for that one,” Alistair coos. 

Dean breaks through the momentary panic that passes through his mind when he remembers Lucifer’s hands tucking him more gently into the bed. Lucifer wanted him there, so what these demons’ thought was of no consideration. “I am exactly where Lucifer wants me.”

The slap comes out of nowhere, forcing Dean to the ground with yellow eyes staring over him. “You do not get to use his angelic name. No one does. He goes by the Dark Lord, Satan, or the Devil. You will learn some respect.”

Dean gulps down more of his fear as he races through his conversation with Lucifer, desperately trying to remember if Lucifer had allowed him to be called Lucifer. He never actually addressed Lucifer with any title. What if the demons were right? What if they told Lucifer and he got angry? Why did he ever agree to come here?

Yellow eyes smiles down at Dean. “Now you understand that you don’t know anything don’t you. All you are is something Lucifer wants to break in a new and interesting way. I wonder have you already said yes.”  
Dean spits into t  
he demon’s face. He has no idea whether the demon in front of him thinks that he’s answered yes to the real question or to the one that Lucifer described to him from the other universe. Honestly, he doesn’t care either. He said yes to a question and that bought him protection. He probably should have remembered that Lucifer isn’t anywhere nearby at the moment and these demons weren’t the sort to wait around.

Yellow eyes has him pushed to the ground with crushing weight on top of him in seconds. The pain grows through Dean’s whole system as the old wounds are inflamed by the pressure on top of him. “It’s okay, little human. I will teach you respect for your betters that way our Lord can spend more time doing as he wishes.”

Steps echo in the hallway before a new figure appears in the edge of Dean’s vision. He can barely make out the shape, but he’s relatively positive it isn’t Lucifer, which makes him even more scared at this point. 

“Alistair, Azazel what are you doing in Lucifer’s private rooms?”

“Crowley, this is none of your business. Just go back to making deals with stupid humans and let us handle the torture of the pretty human,” Alistair snaps. 

The demon, they call Crowley clucks his tongue. “You are aware, I am sure that Satan asked to speak to me.”

“Yes, of course. I was the one who told them that you were waiting for him.”

“Oh, so you do have some intelligence. How delightful. The lord gave me instructions, part of which involves giving the human, you’re giving pain to, a tour to hell.”

Yellow eyes snaps his fingers, and Crowley soars through the open door and out into the hall. “Impertinent demon, I don’t know why he likes you, Winchester, but he can’t save you. Satan can deal with him later.”

Dean breathes through the pain. The screams haven’t started yet, so he still has access to his voice, which is a small mercy. He is to be the ruler of hell’s husband, and one of these days he will have enough power over them to scare them with a glance. But that will not be this day. “Or maybe Lucifer will deal with you when he finds out you’ve interfered what he wants.”

Dean can’t claim surprise when the tip of the knife presses down his spine, drawing blood and pants from him. He might be antagonizing them more than a little, but their pain doesn’t mean much when he believes that Lucifer will come save him as soon as he can. His mind wanders for a moment, the pain not bad enough that he’ll have to scream yet. 

Why does he trust that Lucifer will come? The initial fear after the demons told him about the name Lucifer had faded too, perhaps he had a death wish, or perhaps he had realized that if everything the angel had told him was true, then he was trying to be a better person. The only way he’s going to be a better person is if he actually makes that future never happen. 

The first lash of the whip brings the scream to his lips, but his mind has already drifted out of his body. Alistair hated when that happened on the rack, so he’ll realize soon. Dean can’t remember what punishment Alistair uses to force him back to the present, but he knows that he hates it and that’s enough. 

Rather than another strike of the whip, or blank memories coming to the front of his mind as Alistair taunts him, he feels a hand caress his cheek. His eyes blink as he tries to place the touch, but he can’t force his eyes open. Not yet. He’s still too far gone, but he registers touch again and sound judging by the muffled screams coming from behind him.

“Crowley, do me a favor and go take both of these to the cells until I have time to deal with them.”

“Of course, my lord.”

Dean smiles as he places the voices. Crowley mist have gone to get Lucifer as soon as the demons had thrown him out of the room. That endears the demon to him. He’s still a demon, so trust won’t be as easy, but if the demon asks for a hand, Dean will be inclined to help him. He turns his head into the hand holding him searching for comfort.

Lucifer shakes as the head he’s been holding presses into him. No one has asked for his touch since long before God had sent him down to hell. On rare occasions, he’d have enough backbone to demand a night with one of his random demons in the hope that he could slip come comfort into the night without absolute judgement. He takes his other arm and drapes it around Dean, hoping that he won’t overstep the boundaries that don’t appear to be present. “Dean, darling, I need you to come back to this realm for me.”

He notices to late that the endearment slips from his lips without any question. He shouldn’t let these things come out of his mouth. He shouldn’t be pretending to be the bad guy when he knows full well that he’s not at this moment, but he’s spent so long making sure that he keeps that mask on that the very idea of letting down his shields terrifies him.

Dean hears the plea to come back to the rational world with more clarity than normal. That’s when he realizes that he’s back in the proper headset, but even still he wants the comfort of Lucifer and safety for a while, and he’s not sure what Lucifer meant by having time to deal with them. So he opens his eyes completely, and forces his body to crawl forward enough that his body can drape across Lucifer’s before shuddering. 

He’s not lying. He opened his eyes to prove to Lucifer that he came back up from the place his mind escapes to when the pain starts. Now, he’s taking just a little bit of the comfort that he wants. If Lucifer needs him to move, he can move Dean. For now, he’ll take the comfort. 

Lucifer’s arms surround Dean almost immediately once he sees the eyes open. By the time Dean’s forcing his body to move towards him, Lucifer has his arms helping Dean up so he’s not in such an awkward position. He drags the man into a half-seated position, where he can lean on Lucifer’s chest. “That’s it. You’re safe. You’re safe. I won’t let them come anywhere near you again.”

Dean knows he should pull back and ask questions about whether what they’re doing is okay or whether any of this is allowed in their relationship, but he can’t bring himself to care. He can’t bring himself to give up the comfort. His back still aches, but with only one cut and one lash of the whip, he’ll heal on his own in no time. He shouldn’t need this comfort. When he feels vibrations, he turns his eyes down to realize that his whole body is shaking. 

Lucifer starts rubbing one arm up and down in soothing motions. He’s never tried to save one of the souls on the racks, he’s never tried to comfort one of the ones that has completed their sentence. Now he will, now he has a reason to fight. The future was a good reason to willing turn away from the path he was on. The man holding on to him for dear life is the perfect reason to change it all. He’d kill the demons who dared to touch someone under his protection, who dared to enter his rooms. Maybe he’d bring Dean to the throne room and announce the engagement. 

“Lucifer?”

Dean’s voice is still far to wobbly for him to even consider trying to do anything further for a little while. “You don’t have to speak Dean. You can take what you need for the next while. I won’t leave while you sleep.”

Dean’s brows furrow as he hears the underlying guilt in those words. Lucifer had no reason to feel guilty, he’d come to save Dean. He’d come to Dean’s rescue. And he didn’t get angry at the title that Dean chose to call him. “Not your fault.”

Lucifer snorts. Of course, someone like the righteous man would manage to worry about his guilt while being in pain from his decisions. “This time your pain is definitely on me. I left you here, believing that my potential anger would be enough to scare off any of the demons from even trying to get to you. I should have stayed nearby or sent someone to watch the door.”

Dean tests the mobility of his arms and wraps them around Lucifer’s waist as he tilts himself further into the embrace. Once upon a time he’d have worried about the repercussions of taking comfort from a man, but as Lucifer had pointed out he’s not really male, more of a different species. He’s an angel to be precise. “You came. When that stuffy looking demon found out what they were doing and went to get you, you came for me. That’s enough.”

Lucifer pauses then raises one of his hands to cradle Dean’s head and moves the other hand down around his waist, then he picks them both up. He carries them to the bed and lays Dean down first. Then, he curls up next to Dean with one of his hands stroking Dean’s hair. “This is why you’re a good person.”

“Proof you’re one too. You’re not leaving me. You’re letting me leech comfort from you.”

Lucifer chuckles into Dean’s neck while shaking his head. “Would you allow me to do the same?”

“Of course.”

“Then of course, I’m going to give you as much comfort as you want or as you need. Because I know there will be times when I’m curled up on the floor sobbing because the nightmares of being alone again come crashing in or because the pain from the fall spikes up again. And for the first time since I was cast out of heaven, I will have someone that could choose to hold me.”

Dean shakes his head and turns his body to face Lucifer. “You don’t need to comfort me to deserve my comfort later. If this makes you uncomfortable, then you can just ask for the other. I won’t judge. I understand.”

Lucifer tugs Dean closer and tucks him into his neck. “If I didn’t want to do this, I wouldn’t be doing it. I was attempting to try to hide my weakness.”

Dean’s eyes droop as the warmth from the angel sinks into him. “Well don’t. I won’t immediately understand and get concerned for you.” He swears he hears another chuckle above him as he falls asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I'm stressed about two exams today what did I do to calm myself down? Write fanfiction. Such great coping mechanisms.


	5. The First Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer asks Dean to join him in court. Dean says yes with some conditions.

Lucifer wakes up first, which he counts as a small miracle given that he didn’t plan to fall asleep. The warmth of another body pressed up against his, both giving and receiving comfort, was enough to lull him the comfort of sleep. 

Dean blinks up once Lucifer moves slightly. “Morning.”

“Hell doesn’t really have mornings.”

“Semantics. We just woke up, so I’m going to say good morning.”

Lucifer laughs. He swears he hasn’t laughed this much since the beginning of time when they were still in heaven. When Amara was still present to pull dad back from going to far, every time he tried. He misses his aunt. She didn’t like humans, but neither did he. He wonders now whether his father was even right about the danger she possessed or whether that was just another one of his paranoid episodes.

Dean stretches as he stands up from the bed for the first time on his own. He turns to glance at his fiancé. God, that wasn’t going to stop being weird for a long time, but still he should work on it. He has a wedding to plan, a family to tell, and a plan to make. “Do you have to go to court today?”

“I should. Alistair and Azazel need to be punished in front of the court, which brings me to a question I meant to ask you a question last night, but neither of us were really in the right headspace for that.”

“Ask away.”

Lucifer swallows down the immediate lurch of anger, the following guilt, and all the insecurities surrounding this plan. “Will you come to court with me? Both to show the people that you are with me, and I value your opinions, but also to tell them about the engagement.”

Dean furrows his brow. He has no qualms about standing before people, but he also knows that the demons surrounding them will be far more powerful than him. If he’s challenged, he’ll have to rely on Lucifer’s strength, and he doesn’t relish being reliant on his husband for eternity. Then again, that is probably a later problem to worry about. “Sure.”

Lucifer offers Dean a smile. He’s not sure what thoughts passed through the human’s head, but he had agreed to be married to him and to show up in court today. Both of those things would be enough for the day. 

“Is there a way for us to get another throne into the court room? I don’t want any of the demons to start to get the opinion that I’m still lesser than you and can fall out of favor.”

Lucifer’s eyes widen. He hadn’t even thought about that possibility, but now that Dean’s said it, that’s an important piece. That brings up another question of his. He wonders whether him and Dean would ever get to the point that they’ll understand each other without needing to ask for clarification or question the other’s motives. “Are you planning on ruling hell by my side?”

“Yes. You asked me to be present in your attempts to fix hell, the easiest way to do that is to be the proper husband and be a member of your court. I’ll be by your side. Our first step should be fixing the place we stay most of the time, since that’ll become our base. Then, we can worry about the rest of the world. I’m still working on figuring out a way for you to be able to come with me to Earth.”

Lucifer shakes his head in disbelief. “We should wait for those changes though. We’ll want to be married first where they cannot question our loyalty to each other as easily. And we should probably get you more power before we try to revamp the demonic systems of power.”

Dean can’t stop the growing laughter from pouring out of his lips. Who’d of thought he’d have so much in common with the devil himself that his worries would be echoed in his fiancé’s. “Sorry, not laughing at you. Laughing at the fact both of us appear to have the same set of worries for the future.”

Lucifer wraps an arm around Dean’s waist. Partially to balance the man in his laughter, and part to see whether the man would push him away when he’s not in so much pain he can barely think. His head tilts to regard the human with a soft look compared to anything he ever gives towards anyone else. “I suppose that is amusing. As for your throne, just call Crowley’s name and summon him here. Tell him to take care of it, then lead you to the throne room. I have to go down to the cells to make sure that the demons guarding Alistair and Azazel know that their trial is today and to bring them up when I call.”

Dean doesn’t lean into the touch like he did last night, but he doesn’t stiffen like he once would either. The arm around him doesn’t feel out of place. It feels natural. That’s what scares him the most now. The way that his brain just automatically tells him he can trust the man in front of him. At the beginning, he could blame this on the after effect of the torture. Now, he doesn’t have that. It’s not magic, it’s not fate, it’s simple chemistry, and Dean avoids emotions surrounding this as much as he can, and now he can’t avoid them as he’s barreling towards marriage.

Lucifer pulls back after a moment. “Just so you know, I told Crowley about the future I saw and my reasons for marrying you, just as you plan to do for Sam and Bobby. So if he seems more compassionate than you expect.”

Dean nods. Normally, he’d argue that should have been a group discussion but given what happened yesterday, he’s glad that Lucifer has someone that knows the whole truth, even if that person won’t choose to save him all the time. 

Lucifer walks out of the room with a wave of a hand. His footsteps echoing in the hallway.

Dean should feel nervous about being alone in this room, last time his tormentors found him, but instead he feels confident. No one will try to attack him before finding out just how angry Lucifer is at the two who entered his room to torture him the other day. They need to have the word of their lord first, and he knows what that word will be. “Crowley,” he calls.  
He doesn’t know how this summoning works. To be honest, he’s not even sure the demon will want to help him. If he calls on Lucifer’s name, his orders will be followed, but he’d rather not rely on that with the one demon who currently knows the whole story.

“Winchester. Please tell me you have permission to summon me into Lucifer’s chambers. I don’t want to end up dead.”

“You call him Lucifer.”

Crowley raises an eyebrow. “Most of the non-fanatic call him that. He doesn’t mind too much as long as we’re still respectful and bow. Why does that surprise you? I know you call him that.”

“Azazel told me.”

Crowley cut him off with a wave of a hand. “That giant fanatic believes that Lucifer is the start of all evil, will bring the destruction of the human race, and quite possibly the end of heaven. Ridiculous. The lord barely even wants to deal with humans at the best of times and this fool thinks he’s going to kill them all. Craziness, the first demons have way too much of it.”

Dean cracks a smile. “I think we’re going to get along.”

“Supposedly in that other future of Lucifer’s, I call you best friend, and you refrain from killing me.”

Dean wiggles his eyebrows. “Want to start that tradition again.”

“Why not, bestie? What am I here for?”

Dean freezes from his amusement as he remembers what’s he’s going to try to do today. He has no powers, and yet he’s going to demand respect from the realm of demons. Someone should have stopped him from making that deal, someone could have been God, but no he let this whole plan come about. “I’m going to stand by Lucifer in court today as his fiancé, and I need a throne in the court room, I need clothes that aren’t currently ripped to shreds as I’ve been tortured for the past, however long. And then supposedly, you’re supposed to show me the way.”

Crowley blinks at that list. Apparently, the oldest Winchester takes after their lord in the sense that they never start small. They start with being thirty seconds away from starting a war. Nonetheless, the list were full of things that he could accomplish in a quick and efficient manner. “You got it, bestie. Give me like ten minutes for the clothes. I’ll leave you here to get dressed, while I take care of the throne, and then I’ll escort you to the throne room.”

Dean grins. “Knew I could count on you, friend.”

“Didn’t somebody teach you not to be friends with a demon.”

“You think I listened to them. I made a deal for my brother’s life, got myself engaged to the devil, and am actively planning on reforming the structures of the world including the one I’m about to introduce myself to. What makes you think I listen to common sense?”

Crowley shakes his head. “You’re crazier than I took you for. I approve.” Then he disappears from the room.

Dean walks over to edge of the room and leans against the wall. Maybe he never saw his life as ending up here, but he’s not too upset by the turn of events. That conversation had more substance with someone outside of his family than he’s ever had. Maybe, Crowley was right in the other universe and the real reason that demon wasn’t dead was because that Dean knows that Crowley will be a demon until the day he dies, but that doesn’t make him evil. No more than being human makes him evil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We made it through exams!!!!!!!!!! Yay! The next two chapters are longer than the others, so be prepared for them.


	6. The Courts of Hell #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the demons find out that Dean is to be there king. One demon dies, and an unexpected ally is found.

The clothes appear on the bed without a trace of Crowley. Could be that he’s busy trying to get the throne situated, or it could be the fact that none of the demons seem to keen on entering Lucifer’s room. Dean understands the hesitation because ticking off a fallen angel that has more power in his grasp than most can even imagine let alone hold is just a terrible plan.

He starts pulling on the outfit. He appreciates the nice suit despite knowing that he’s never worn anything this fancy before in his life, and he isn’t likely to start wearing them for everyday occasions, but his first day in the demonic court deserves a bit of flair. 

He realizes once the clothes were on, and he’s combing through his hair to make sure he look presentable, that he didn’t even consider not trusting the demon’s choice. One universe did not mean anything for this one given how much they were planning on changing, so why did he trust Crowley. 

The things he knows about Crowley are rather limited. He knows that Crowley is a demon, but that doesn’t mean all that much to him anymore. Once he said yes to marrying the devil most little things like that flew out of the window. He can’t care about things like that at a time like this. He knows that Crowley is loyal to Lucifer. He’s not actually sure how far that loyalty goes though. If it’s just fear like a good portion of the demons in hell, then that’s not a good reason to trust Crowley. 

Then again, Crowley had saved him. Sure, Lucifer is the one that forced them off, and Lucifer is the one that held him as he broke down from all of the torture that he’d been put through. But if Crowley hadn’t gone to get Lucifer when Dean was down, then Dean would have probably ended up back on the rack before Lucifer even figured out that he had left the room. 

A knock on the door pulls him out of his own head, and he goes to answer the door. Standing outside is Crowley in a similar fashion of suit. Dean puts a smile on his face. “Dressing me up to look like you?”

“Other way around, little prince. You are soon to be the something of the king. Are we going to call you Queen or another King? Or will we go for a more traditional Consort? I’m going to go with little prince until someone corrects me.”

“Oh god. I’m going to have a title. People are going to bow and curtesy and nonsense to me.”

Crowley chuckles. “Welcome to hell, Winchester. Even when you’re winning things never seem to be as dandy as we want them.”

Dean nods and steps out of the room. He has to swallow his fear to not turn tail and head straight back into the bedroom where he knows safety. He wonders whether Alistair was right, and he would have broken at one point. Already the fear has him paralyzed in place.

“Hey, bestie, I’m going to need you to breathe. Yes, this is where you got tortured, but this is also where you’re going to end torture. It will take time, and it will take a shit load of power, but one day you’ll reform hell, you’ll save earth, and more than likely take down an archangel. None of that has to happen today, but you getting to the court room does, so can you manage that for me, or do I need to do something drastic?”

Dean sucks in a breath and straightens his back. He is a Winchester. He will always be a Winchester. When the world gets tough, they get tough right back. He can walk through hell knowing that he should still be being tortured to break to say yes to spilling blood in hell. He can do it. He nods to Crowley. 

Crowley stares at him for a long moment. “I don’t know what you just told yourself but hold onto that for eternity. It will come in handy each and every time someone tries to break you. Don’t let people break you.”

“Even demons?” Dean manages to tease back, falling into the comfortable pattern of joking around with the demon as they walk around hell.

“Especially demons. We’re the dicks of the world. The angels are a close second because I mean we’re the dicks of the world because that’s what they decreed we should be. God. Yeah, don’t let him break you either. He’s a little bitch who got us all into the mess we’re trying to pick up. Humans, they might try to break you, but honestly they’re the easiest to ignore because what are they going to do to you that demons haven’t already done.”

Dean’s laughing by time Crowley has finished his rant on things that might break him. “Don’t forget the monsters. Or God’s crazy sister. Either of them might try to break me too.”  
Crowley joins in on the laughter. “Indeed, well don’t let them. Moral of the story. Don’t let stupid creatures break you because they think they can. They can’t.” With that he pushes open the double doors and leads Dean into the throne room.

The silence creates a tension in Dean that he didn’t know nothing could. A part of him wants to fall to his knees and beg forgiveness of anything that might be listening. Instead, he lets go of Crowley and walks to the front of the room. Eyes stare at him as he moves forward, but he ignores them.

He stops in front of Lucifer and inclines his head. “My lord,” he offers before edging himself down onto the throne right next to Lucifer. The throne is at the same height as Lucifer’s, so they look like equals. They look like royalty. 

The demons start making a series of gasps, groans, and fearful squeaks as Dean stares at them from the throne. Dean wonders if those filled with fear are directed for him, or whether they’re trying to make sure that they don’t end up as Lucifer’s next target after he’s finished destroying Dean. 

Lucifer glances over at Dean with a gleam in his eyes. “Silence,” he yells.

Dean watches as every single demon in the room automatically falls silent with a couple of them lowering to their knees. A smile crosses his face as he realizes that one day if Lucifer and him actually manage to pull off some of the more insane aspects of their plan, that he’ll inspire the same reaction. 

“First order of business for the day. The man sitting next to me is Dean Winchester. He is my fiancé and will be your king.”

Chaos spreads in the demons as they all claw each other trying to get to the front of the line to ask questions of the king and his new king. The blood hits the floor almost constantly with both monarchs just staring upwards at the poor demons silently.

Dean takes pity on one of the demons that just edges forward on the sides without getting involved in a blood bath and points to him. “You. What’s your question since you’re smart enough to try and claw others apart to try and get your question asked?”

The demon glances left and right as many of the eyes turn to him. Then, he turns his gaze to Lucifer as if asking for permission to respond to other king’s order. When he gets no surprise, he gulps before speaking. “If you are to be our king, will you become a demon?”

Lucifer taps Dean’s shoulder. A quiet demand to let him handle this question. “We haven’t decided. We know that he cannot remain human, but there are many options that would allow for him to be more than human, and we wish to explore them all before we make a final decision.”

Another demon with longer hair steps forward. “And what of our plans, my lord? To free you from hell and begin the apocalypse as has been prophesized?”

Dean huffs out a laugh, drawing the attention from all the demons. He puts on his best patronizing smile as he leans into Lucifer. “For a lot of demons, I’m surprised they care about the plan put in place by God. Isn’t it their job to stop God from getting his way?”

Lucifer throws an arm around Dean showing more favor in that moment than he had done in the centuries of being King of hell. “They get a little confused. See they think that if we win the battles in the apocalypse, then we’ll break God’s plan. What they don’t realize is that he has backups for anyone winning the end of times. A pity really since I would love a battle against heaven.”  
“We can send them invitations to the wedding. That will get some reaction, maybe even a battle or two,” Dean offers.

Lucifer sends a smile to the demon standing there with a flash of his true eyes. “See, this is why I’m marrying him. He’s always thinking of ways to make me happy while destroying God’s plan. Ruby, sit down and try not to hurt your brain thinking.”

Crowley steps forward, which causes both Dean and Lucifer to raise their eyebrows. The demon knows full well that his words have power in this situation because of the information he has, but he’d prefer to keep his head attached so no spilling of secrets was going to occur. “I am curious, my lords, on what the plans for the family of Dean? Since some demons still think it would please you, Lord Lucifer, to kill the Winchesters or their allies.”

“Clarification. Perfect timing. Those who dare to hurt my fiancé, or his family will face my wrath, which is why we have prisoners. Bring them out,” Lucifer orders. His eyes flare with anger, but at the same time his body posture is normal.

“Surely, you will not punish them for harming the boy before they knew that he was yours,” Ruby calls. 

Lucifer tilts his head to regard the demon. He doesn’t like her on most days. She tries too hard to please without having a brain in her head to think her actions through. She tried to corrupt Sam Winchester which was his job if he so chose. And like a fool, she told a human that she was a demon. “Fun story, demons aren’t always fair. So, I could punish them for that, although I wasn’t. No, they’re in trouble for entering my private quarters to harm something that I laid claim to by putting there. The fact that person happens to be their future king only makes things worse.”

When Lucifer finishes his speech, the doors crash open as eight demons force Alistair and Azazel into the room. They put up quite a fight before they see Lucifer. Azazel stops fighting automatically and sinks to the ground. 

After a few moments Alistair goes down with him. Although the hatred in his eyes doesn’t dim as he finds Dean in the room on the throne. A snarl reveals his teeth as he looks seconds from lunging. 

“Do you understand what crimes have brought you before the court as prisoners instead of members of the court?”

Alistair takes a deep breath. “We chose to punish one of your chosen ones ourselves, rather than allowing his punishment to be dictated by you.” The words are spoken without regret, but they have a certain compassion to them that wasn’t there any other time Dean had heard the demon talk.

“That’s partially correct. The action you are describing is what landed you here, but you’re still not grasping the bigger picture.” Lucifer shakes his head at them. “I expected better from you both, but you, Alistair, I even gave you enough information not to make this silly mistake. Dean is no longer a prisoner here. He is going to become my husband and king of hell. He will rule by my side. You harmed a future king, inside my room where I offered him protection.”

Azazel turns his head to regard Dean with new eyes. “My apologies, King Dean or Winchester, whichever you prefer. I had no idea that Alistair was privy to knowledge that you were no longer a prisoner. If I had, I would have avoided harming you.”

Dean stares down at the demon who killed his mother, killed his father, and who once would have killed him, and he freezes. A part of him wants to ask Lucifer for his head, but revenge won’t bring his parents back to life, and it won’t win him any friends down here. The demon clearly thought he was doing the right thing. “May I ask you a question before responding?”

“I am yours to command, however you wish. Even if you wish to kill me, that is my purpose.”

Dean manages to contain the flinch those words cause. He doesn’t need the weight of another’s life on him again, but somehow, he always manages to find another one to heap onto his load. “Why did you kill my mother?”

Azazel lets out a stream of air and turns his eyes to Lucifer. “You trust him with the whole truth? Because once he knows what started all of this, he may hate us all.”

Lucifer raises an eyebrow before nodding. Dean knowing even more of the truth that governs the world both terrifies and excites him. He knew the moment he proposed to Dean that the world was going to be different. Plus, this wasn’t one of the truths that were on him to tell Dean. 

“I killed your mother, because she made a deal with me long before you were born. She was a hunter; your father was not. Your father died one night when a monster killed him while aiming for her. She was pregnant with you, and she couldn’t stand the idea of the father of her child dying before meeting the kid. I agreed to bring him back, and in return her second son would be mine. Yet when the time came, she still stood in front of me, knowing that I’d kill her. Your mother died for Sam Winchester, she died for John Winchester. The only person she didn’t die for was you. You were the only safe thing from the demons before you made a deal with us.”

Dean closes his eyes as he lets that information settle. Part of him wishes to scream liar and refuse to listen. But he knows that Lucifer would have interrupted if any part of that speech had been a lie. By this point, he’s agreed to marry Lucifer, so they can spit in the face of God and his destiny. Killing Azrael wouldn’t bring his parents back, and it wouldn’t make him feel better. Especially knowing that the demon had only done the job that he was given by the old rules of God.

Lucifer leans over to whisper in Dean’s ear. “You may not wish to do this, but the decision on his fate is dependent on you. You took that responsibility when you wanted an answer.”

Dean turns to Lucifer with a blank stare. Of course, he knew this was on him. He just needed to align his thoughts before he gave judgement, or rather forgiveness. His life had become so weird. “Rise, Azazel. You have been forgiven for the crimes committed against me yesterday. I had no role in hell when you attacked my mother and my brother, so I have no right to judge you on it.”

Azazel picks himself up from the ground and bows to Dean. When he pulls himself up, he turns on his heel to stand next to Dean’s throne lower than him. A not so subtle declaration that he supports Lucifer’s choice to marry the human. 

Lucifer turns his gaze on Alistair. “You, however, do not have the same ignorance that Azazel had. Do you have any words?”

Alistair lunges as far as the chains would allow with a snarl on his lips. “The human dares to use his wiles on the lord of darkness. Allow me to put him back on the rack, and I will teach him proper manners. I will show him how to be a decent husband, should you desire someone to warm your bed at night. No human has any claim on a throne in hell.”

Lucifer laughs. He turns to Dean. “The fool still thinks you are merely playing me.”

Dean shrugs. “Fools will always be fools, regardless of whether or not they have all the evidence against them.”

Lucifer cranes his neck to the side to meet Alistair’s eyes. “I am perfectly happy with where Dean is right now. I offered to put him there, you do not get the right to hurt him or belittle them. In fact I’m not going to allow you the chance. Azazel would you cut off his head?”

Azazel stalks forward with his blade falling into his hands. He makes a quick slash and the head of the demon rolls onto the ground only stopping at Dean’s feet. “Would you like me to dispose of the body, King Dean?”

Dean regards the head in front of him with a slight tilt. “Yes.”

Lucifer grins as Azazel collects the body and begins to clean up everything from court that day. He stares out across the other demons with bright eyes. “Any other problems that we need to deal with in today’s court?”

“Dean was Michael’s chosen vessel. We might have a fight from inviting them to a wedding, but what do we do if an archangel comes after us?”

Dean takes that one by staring the demon who asked that down with a stare. “If something is living, then it can be killed. I am a hunter by blood, and a hunter by trade. If anything attacks my people, I will fight them. I will kill them. I will win. That’s what Winchester’s do.”

After that declaration, demons start leaving the throne room. 

Dean leans further onto Lucifer once the other demons are gone. His eyes droop closed. “Nothing else to do today, right?”

Lucifer chuckles, allowing the human to use him as a pillow. “Indeed. However, tomorrow you should go talk to your brother and Bobby. They’ll be in same area tomorrow. I’ll send Crowley with you, to get you there and back again.”

Dean nods. “They’re going to throw holy water on me.”

Lucifer continues his steady steam of laughter. When Dean needs sleep, he says the craziest things. “If that’s the worst they do, we’re going to be extremely happy. Sleep, Dean, I’ll keep you safe.” He waits moments before Dean drops into his deep sleep. Time doesn’t run normally down in hell, and torture doesn’t heal overnight. His human could fall asleep every two hours and he’d be fine. For now, he’ll just keep him safe.


	7. The Family #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally see Sam and Bobby. They get to know what's happening with Dean, and they get a choice on whether to join this plan.

Dean wakes up under fluffy blankets that he’s beginning to get used to. He doesn’t see Lucifer, but the fear that had been retained within him yesterday doesn’t appear. One demon died for entering their room, no one was going to try anything anytime soon. That would be ridiculous. As he rolls over on the bed, he feels a crinkle and picks up a piece of paper. 

He reads over the note a couple times to make sure he understands the message given to him completely.  


_ Dean, _

__

__

_ I hope that you slept well. Demons don’t need nearly as much sleep as humans, and archangels need even less. I’ve been working on some of the random situations that rise up in hell. You know, making sure deals don’t violate any of the rules I’ve put forth. Offer some of the humans the option to become demons. So, on and so forth. I figured you’d want some time to gather your thoughts before you head to talk to your brother. _

_ ___

_ __ _

_ Best of luck, L. _

_ _

_ __ _

__

__

Dean chuckles when he finishes the note for the fourth time. If he was going to talk to Lucifer’s family, he’d include best of luck too, but with his family, he should be able to win them over with a couple well placed smiles. Sammy will be confused for a while, but he’ll figure it out after a while. Bobby might understand or he might freak out. He never knows what things Bobby will accept when it comes to messes like this. 

He pulls himself up from the comfort of the bed and throws on some clothes within Lucifer’s room that make him seem somewhat normal for the meeting. He does in fact want to get everything straight but doing it alone doesn’t seem like an appealing option. “Crowley, if you’re not busy, could you come help me figure out how to explain my engagement to my family?”

“Always busy, bestie. The question should be do you want out of whatever tedious meeting you’re currently going through? The answer is almost always yes. Are we really telling your family what we’re doing?”

Dean drags a hand over his face before turning to stare at Crowley. “Yes. We’re telling them what I’m doing. What I’m debating is whether I should tell them how this came to be?”

Crowley drops down to sit on the floor, considering Dean’s dilemma. On one hand, without the context of the future, some of the story won’t make sense. On the other hand, once they know about the future, they could try to convince Dean that’s a better future to live in. “I suppose that depends more on you, than on them.”

“What do you mean?”

“No matter which path we choose, they’re going to try to convince you not to do this. No one really wants their son that isn’t a son, or brother, marrying the king of hell and ruling by his side. So will it be easier to fight them if they know the future that you’re trying to avoid, or if they don’t know the whole picture.”

Dean nods immediately. Crowley isn’t wrong, his family is going to try to convince him to leave the devil. Curiously, he wonders for a moment whether he’s good enough at lying to convince them that this was a love match, but that involves a series of lies that he’s not willing to commit to this early in the situation. That means he needs to tell them about the future. “Think they’ll hear me out about a future where chaos reigns.”

Crowley shrugs. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d give Lucifer the benefit of the doubt when it comes to this, but you did. I wouldn’t have expected Azazel to handle you as a second king, but he does. Perhaps, you have the effect of making things be different than what my gut tells me would happen.”

“Do I confuse you, Crowley?”

“Constantly.”

Dean nods. “It’d be easier to get this over with rather than waiting.”

Crowley shrugs. Dean’s not wrong with that statement, but it is far from his place to even suggest such things out loud. He likes his head where it is. He likes a lot of things about the older Winchester, especially the way after yesterday in the throne room, he’s grown back his spine. 

“Will you stay?”

“Will holy water get poured on me?”

Dean nods. Almost sheepish in his actions. He shouldn’t ask a demon he barely knows to undergo something akin to torture. 

A sigh escapes Crowley’s lips. “No, I won’t stay with you while you tell them the first bit, because they deserve to know the whole story from your lips and your lips alone. But, I’ll stop by once you’re finished with the first part to hopefully make them see that the demons aren’t currently trying to kill you or maim you.”

Dean’s eyes widen after a second as he stares at Crowley. “Perhaps we don’t mention Azazel to them, ever.”

Crowley grabs hold of Dean’s arm and pulls him up. So much for only doing actions that are likely to keep his head on straight. He’s never been the wisest demon in the room, although certainly the most cunning. He flashes them out of hell in a blink of the eyes, and they arrive outside Bobby’s gate. “No panicking.”

“Jesus, fine. I won’t panic in front of you. God, where’s a pill for courage when you need one,” Dean gasps as he realizes where they are. He squeezes his eyes shut to regain control over his stomach, and by the time he opens his eyes Crowley is gone.

With another deep breath, he enters Bobby’s driveway and walks up to the door. He raps on the door twice, then leans back to wait. He doesn’t know what the first choice of testing will be, but he doubts he’ll have much choice. 

The holy water splashes all over him from upstairs, and he cocks his head up to give Sammy a smile. “Not a demon.”

The door opens just a crack for a silver knife to slip through. Dean didn’t expect to be asked about shapeshifter, but he supposes it’s probably smart that they did. You never know when someone is going to do something absolutely crazy. He slices a thin line on his arm with the blade with an eye roll. “Not a shapeshifter either.”

“Not Dean Winchester, since he’s in hell,” Bobby’s ruff voice calls out from behind the door.

“Dean Winchester, through and through with some stuff to tell you about that hell thing once you open this door. And tell me you have a room where nothing can see us.”

A long suffering sigh comes from behind the door. “What did you do that you need that much protection?”

“Let me in, and I’ll tell you. You’ve checked the things that could have taken my body, Bobby. I’m me. Well, probably a bit broken after all that torture, but me. And, I’m pretty confident things are after me, so if you could get me inside before one of them figures out my location. That’d be nice.”

The door swings open, and Sammy’s arms are around him immediately. “I’ve missed you.”

“Missed you too, Sammy. But let’s get to a safer place.”

Bobby leads the way through the house with some skeptical looks tossed back at Dean. “Tell me something only Dean would know.”

A grumble of protest comes from Sam, but Dean understands the precaution. He’d the same thing, only probably not on himself. A secret that could be proven to Bobby. Most of those would also shock Sam, but that doesn’t bother him anymore. “I loved Cassie back, just not enough to stay when there were monsters that needed killing.”

Bobby froze for a moment before opening a door and dragging them all inside. “Never thought I’d hear you admit that out loud again.”

“Figured something so out of character would help convince you that I was serious.”

Bobby inclines his head. “So, who’s after you boy?”

“Probably God, all of his angels, most of heaven, and for good luck probably also any other monsters that side with God.”

Blinks follow that announcement, which leads to Dean sinking into a chair in the room. “It’s a long story. And I kind of need to promise not to freak out before I’m done. Ask questions all you want but try not to kick me out.”

Sammy shakes his head. “I’d never kick you out, Dean. Just start at the beginning.”

Dean snorts. The beginning is long and tedious. He’s not doing that. “The beginning can be summed up into I was tortured for a good couple months. We ain’t gonna talk about it. Ever.”

Bobby shoves Sam over to the side. “Of course. How about what stopped the torture?”

“That’d be the devil. I call him Lucifer. Right, he needed to talk to me. Because, archangels can see the future.”

“You’ve met the devil, and he’s seen our future. That’s where we’re starting,” Sam exclaims. 

“Honestly, it gets worse. So, the future, not good. I’m a little alcoholic and quite a bit ready to die. You’re actually just suicidal. And Bobby is dead, so is Lucifer. Clearly, he doesn’t like that future.”

Bobby runs his hand over his face and holds up his hand. “We need alcohol for this. Lots of it. Hold on, I’ll go get it.” He stands up and leaves the safe room for a moment.

Sam turns to Dean with questions in his eyes. A simple one comes to mind first and foremost because everything else can wait until Bobby comes back, and they hear the rest of the story. “Can you stay?”

Dean lets out a sigh. He wishes things could be as simple as they once were where he could give his brother a blanket answer. “Too complicated to answer before you hear the story.”

“You’re serious.”

“Our lives are going to get a lot crazier before they get any amount of normal, and that normal probably won’t be the kinds of things that humans want. I wish that I could give you a yes or no answer, but nothing is that simple for me anymore.”

Sam closes his eyes. “You made another deal.”

“Not in the way you’re thinking.”

Bobby comes back in and passes the beers around. “So the devil doesn’t like the future?”

“Yep, which means that the goal is to change the future. But there’s a catch. His brother Michael doesn’t care about the future. He doesn’t care that he dies. He doesn’t care that humans are suffering. He doesn’t care that God fucked off to leave us here with the problems he created.”

Bobby raises an eyebrow. “Didn’t take you for religious, so I’m a bit surprised at the anger towards God there, kiddo.”

Dean levels a glare towards Bobby. He sure as hell ain’t religious, nor is planning on being religious. “I’m not. Thing is that now that I know there was a God, I’m mighty pissed that he’s been letting us suffer this whole time, when I know damn well that he could save us.”

Sam leans over to shove Dean. “Stay on track. I want to know why you say things are more complicated, and so far, you still haven’t explained what any of this has to do with you getting out of torture for all of eternity.”

“To be honest, I still don’t understand this next part, I’m just taking the devil’s word for it because nothing else makes any sense. Mom made a deal with a demon.”

“She did what,” Sam screeches. The anger in his tone at someone defaming their mother plain to see. 

Bobby’s face shuts down, which tells Dean all he needed to know. Bobby had known Mary before John, even if he never told John. Bobby knew about the deal if not the specifics, and he kept it from him and Sam. “Ask Bobby, Sammy. He knows.”

Sam turns to face Bobby.

Bobby gives a deep sigh before leaning back against the wall. “Your mother was a hunter. I’m guessing you already know that Dean given the amount of glares I’m receiving right now. Your daddy died while she was pregnant with Dean, she traded her second born for her husband. That’s all I know.”

Dean nods. “Yeah. I know more than you do for better or for worse now. The deal was so that the brothers could be created on the mortal plain. The righteous man, raised to fight the monsters that go bump in the night. The corruptible man, raised to fight the system at every turn. Michael and Lucifer. Dean and Sam. We were made to be the perfect vessels for the archangels to bring about the apocalypse.”

Sam drops his head to his hands and moans. “Are you telling me that I’m the human supposed to imitate the devil?”

Dean flinches at that question. “I’m telling you; you already have. If it makes you feel better, Lucifer isn’t as evil as humans make him out to be.”

“So, the main problem, getting back to non-existential questions, is that Michael will still be gunning for you even if Lucifer doesn’t go through with his part and that will end up with the same future?” Bobby intervenes. 

“Yes. My soul has an opening for Michael given to me by God, himself, the dick. The only way to stop the shit future from happening is to bond my soul to someone else equally powerful as Michael to force him to not be able to snatch me.”

“Tell me you didn’t sell your soul, Dean. Dean, promise me,” Sammy pleads. His eyes have gone wide as if this is a fear of his that he’s been ignoring for multiple months. 

“Of course not. I’m only slightly insane. We’re getting married.”

Bobby blinks for a minute. “You mean we as in you and the devil.”

“Lucifer, but yes. I know this is difficult to understand, but he’s sick of playing by the roles that God set us all up on, and I don’t want to end up broken and cynical. I don’t want Sammy to want death more than he wants life. I don’t want you to be dead. This works. We can save each other.”

“You’re willing to try to save the devil?” Sam asks his voice monotone.

“I’m willing to try. There’s more though. If I’m going to be his husband, then I’m going to be a king of hell. I’m going to work on that system. I’m going to try to save hell from the darkness that God forced them on, and I’m going to save Earth from angels. But, I could use some friends and family.”

Bobby stands up and clasps Dean on the shoulder. “You’ve got me. I have no idea what kind of messes we’re going to end up dragged into, but I’ll stand by you. Try, and I mean this in the most kind way, try not to start a different apocalypse trying to avoid all of the ones we’re dealing with in the other universe. At least, we’ve won all the ones in that universe.”

Dean quirks a smile. “Winning ain’t everything, but I hear you Bobby. I’m going to try not to destroy the world.”

Sam shakes his head. “You want me to accept that you’re marrying the devil with no hesitation, and you’re planning on standing up to God and his favorite angel to change the fate of the world.”

Dean tilts his head back and forth. That’s a simplistic run down of everything, but it does the situation as much justice as it can. “Yeah, pretty much.”

Sammy releases a sigh. “Fine. I’m with you, but I’ll still try to kick the devil’s ass if he hurts you.”

Dean thinks back to the way Lucifer’s arms tightened around him after Alistair and Azazel ended up hurting him. The way he blamed himself and seemed so upset that he allowed that to happen. “I think perhaps he’d let you.”


	8. The First of Many Issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did you wonder what was going to be done about Adam? Don't worry the boys have zero plans, at the moment, but they'll figure it out. They hope.

Right before Bobby opens the door, Dean remembers part of the reason that he led them to the safe room. The angels would try to hurt him if they knew of the wedding when he wasn’t safely in hell where Lucifer’s demand was much stronger than any of theirs. “We don’t talk about this outside of a safe room, if the angels know, then we’re in over our heads.”

Bobby nods once, followed quickly by Sam’s so Dean walks with them out of the room, only to see Crowley pacing the floor.

Bobby reaches for a weapon, but Dean catches his arm just in time. “He’s one of mine, Bobby.”

Crowley looks up then shakes his head. “We have a problem.”

“And I’m involved because?”

“Because you’re one of my kings, and I don’t know what to do. Lucifer is still in hell, so the only way I can ask him is to abandon you, which is a shitty thing to do to someone I call bestie or really to anyone, but I am a demon.”

Dean relaxes his grip and lets Bobby pull away. If either Bobby or Sam tries to hurt the demon right now, he’ll have bigger problems then trying to stop them. “Crowley, you’re ranting.”

“Lucifer didn’t tell you about every detail about the future because that would have taken months if not years given how many years we were spanning in the conversation.”

Dean nods. “Not surprised. Has something come up?”

“You have another brother.”

Sam lunges forward. “You’re a liar.”

Dean surges forward at the same moment, grabbing onto Sam’s shirt collar and holding him back. He gives Crowley a slight nod. “Sam, let him speak.”

“Your dad was on a hunt. It would have been years after Mary died. I have no idea whether or not your dad knew about him.”

“Then why does it matter?” Bobby asks. 

Crowley just stares at his king. He can’t bring himself to say the words in front of Dean’s family, not when he doesn’t know how much Dean told them. Sure, the plan was to tell them everything, but plans change. 

Dean starts replaying what he knows of everything in his head, then he slumps down to the wall bringing Sam with him. “Michael can use him.”

Sam turns to Dean. “We can’t do anything about it though. We can’t, Dean. He’s our brother.”

Dean’s eyes meet Sam’s with a glaze of tears over his eyes. “There are always options. I’ll figure them out and choose the best one.”

“You won’t kill him,” Bobby states. 

“No, he won’t. Even if that is the choice that must be made, one of the demons will do it for our king. That is our duty. That is our purpose. Are you two staying on the mortal realm or would you like to join us in hell?” Crowley’s voice betrays none of his thoughts. Because inside his head he’s screaming for Dean to give him an actual order right now. He hates being in charge when things go off the designated plan, because he constantly worries about the consequences of failing.

Dean shakes his head. “Both of you should stay here for now. We’ll need people on the mortal realm for some of our plans. Sammy, I promise you, I’ll try to make sure the brother we never knew doesn’t end up dead, but I won’t let him set us on the path we’ve already been on. I refuse to let that future happen.”

Sam releases the tears when he realizes that the promise is meant as a goodbye. “You can’t leave. I just got you back.”

Dean wraps an arm around Sammy without pausing. “Not leaving for long. Plus, I’m pretty sure I can send Crowley to come get you.”

“Your orders are mine to follow with as much enthusiasm as I can muster. For so many reasons, but primarily because if you like me, Lucifer won’t even dream of killing me,” Crowley answers the unspoken question. He doesn’t admit the real reason is because he likes the way Dean treats him as if he can still be human. He doesn’t admit that Lucifer’s goal of being a good person extends to him. He doesn’t need to. Dean will see right through to the truth. 

Dean pulls away and nods to both Sam and Bobby. “Try to research anything and everything about angels. We’re going to need any advantage we can get.”

Then, he walks over to Crowley. Within seconds, Crowley has them back in hell.

Dean glances over his shoulder at Crowley. “That went better than expected.”

“You now have to deal with a half-brother you’ve never met, your real brother being a sad puppy man, and your fiancé will probably suggest killing one of them to make you happy.”

Dean puts on his best fake smile as he pushes open the door to his, their, bedroom. “But you didn’t get splashed with holy water, and they didn’t try to kill me. Better than expected.”

“Were those your expectations?” Lucifer’s voice comes from behind him in a dry tone. 

“I figured at least one of those would happen. The idea of them trying to kill me seemed a little paranoid, but I didn’t think they’d believe me until they’d proven I was still human, which probably meant taking me to the brink of death.”

Lucifer shakes his head as he leans on the doorway. “You may be more paranoid than me.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. Although, you and me have to talk. We have some issues we need to plan, along with a wedding. The sooner we have solid plans for the first part of this, the sooner we can start working on the bigger issues.”

Lucifer nods. “I wasn’t going to tell you about your brother.”

Crowley flinches backwards. The harsh tone means that he’s in trouble. He would have thought telling his second king such important information was the correct action to take, but clearly his boss though otherwise.

“Why?”

Lucifer shrugs. “Because Adam doesn’t matter as much as you do. If I bind our souls together, that means I can’t take Sam the way the prophecy needs. Michael can use him still, but there is no danger of the future. I was going to let that play out as the archangel chooses to play.”

Dean runs a hand over his face. “The three of us, in a conference room and not our bedroom in like five minutes. I want to change out of the clothes doused in holy water, so that I can actually touch you or Crowley without burning myself.”

“You couldn’t burn me, but very well. I’ll make sure we have a room in private to plan stuff. Crowley will come with me. Ask Azazel to show you the way. He’s currently obsessing over pleasing the new king of hell,” Lucifer drawls before leaving Dean alone with his thoughts.


	9. The brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean has to make decisions on what to do about Adam.

The first thing Dean does once he enters the bedroom and makes sure no one is around, is scream as loud as he possibly can. Why can’t he have a single thing that happens be normal? He’s not asking for some miracle. He’s not asking for God to call back the insane plans that he’s made revolving around him. He’s just asking for a break.

Once the anger drains from him, he drags the shirt off himself and searches for a different one. All the clothes in the room our Lucifer’s or the fancy ones that Crowley had grabbed for him the other day. Eventually, he was going to need to get some of his own stuff for times like this, but that is not a today problem. That’s more of a secondary problem for when some of the massive issues have been taken care of. 

He doesn’t think that Lucifer will have an issue with him wearing his clothes. Well, once upon a time, he would have assumed that he would. But given the fact that Lucifer has currently given him just about everything that he’s ever asked for, he doubts that the man will have a problem with him using a shirt. 

He ruffles around the room until he finds a simple button up that doesn’t look like it was made for courtroom appearances, but nor does it look uncustomary for a member of the royal family. Then, he walks into the bathroom and splashes some water on his face.

He nods and hopes that he hasn’t taken too much time away from Lucifer or Crowley, although recently it seems as though Crowley’s main job today is to help him deal with all of the consequences of planning a wedding with the devil. He steps into the hallway, not particularly wanting Azazel to be in their room. Crowley is a different story because he hasn’t actively done anything to hurt Dean before. “Azazel.”

“My prince,” Azazel’s voice rings clear as he gets closer to where Dean stands. Then, he pauses seeing the confusion on Dean’s face. “My Lord and my prince seems the easiest way to refer to you both, unless I am calling you by name in which case it would be King Satan and King Dean, or unless you would prefer something else.”

Dean shakes his head. “No, the title is fine, I just hadn’t heard that one before. Can you lead me to where Crowley and my fiancé are waiting for me?”

Azazel turns on his heel. “Of course. I overheard what Crowley told you back at your family’s house. He is not wrong, if you need someone else to take care of the problem without ever telling you what ends up happening, any of us will.”

Dean follows Azazel through the corridors of hell wondering whether the offer was meant to be as backhanded as it was. He doesn’t think so, just because of how honest Azazel is in all his interactions. It’s almost funny that he can trust a demon to be more honest than some of the humans he knows. “Thank you for the offer, but if I need to take care of a problem such as this, I will be handling it myself.”

Azazel laughs, young and pure. “That’s what our lord told us at first, then he learned that some actions are too difficult for a king to bear, so he lets us hold the burden for just a moment.”

Dean thinks back to a quote that might help Azazel understand his positioning and perhaps, even help convince the demon that this is the correct choice. “There’s a tv show for humans, that has a whole bunch of crazy, power-hungry people vying for the throne. None of the ones who want the throne think of their people or of their responsibilities. The one person on the show that made a good man, and a good ruler once said this. ‘The man who passes the sentence should wield the sword.’ I had no plans on becoming a king of hell. I had no desire to rule over demons, but now I will. Thus, I need to decide what kind of king I will be, and I’ve decided to be a righteous one. Not because God named me the righteous man, but because God probably never believed the man so hurt by your kind would be able to show them compassion.”

“Is that why you’ve forgiven me?”

Dean sighs. “I haven’t forgiven you. The things you did hurt me deeply, caused my father to destroy whatever little amount of happiness I had left, and destroyed my little brother. Those things can’t be taken away. I haven’t forgiven you because none of these things were on you. They are on my mother and her choices. They are on my father and his shitty coping mechanisms. They are on my brother for never trying to deal with the way things were rather than the way things could have been. You were just an instrument. You were just a tool that God wielded to hurt me, to break me, so I’d yes to Michael.”

Azazel froze then he claps softly. “They’ll follow you like they follow Satan. You don’t need to be a good man down here, yet you try. You won’t judge us for being what we were created to be. Thank you.”

Dean gives the demon a nod. He no longer sees his mother’s killer looking back at him. He sees a broken soul who had never been given a chance to be a better creature than a demon. One day he’ll ask God how he can sleep at night with all the pain he’s caused, but that won’t be a today problem. That’s a future Dean problem. “Don’t thank me, not for this. This is the bare minimum of what all creatures deserve.”

“Even monsters?”

“As long as they ain’t killing folk. And since I never caught a trail for anything less than them killing folk, I’d say yeah. I’ll deal with monsters too.” Dean knows those words aren’t what he’d have answered in the past. He would have told anyone who listened that all monsters needed to die, but the Dean who would have said those things died in hell. 

Azazel tilts his head in the direction of the door. “That’s where the Lord and his lackey are.”

Dean raises an eyebrow. “You probably shouldn’t be calling Crowley a lackey. He’s the one here who I trust most after our King.”

“As you wish,” he replies. Before walking away. There was no job for either Dean or Satan to give him at the moment. Perhaps, they’d have one after their meeting, but they’d be angry if he eavesdropped. He cannot wrap his mind around the fact that Dean chose Crowley over him, but then he did do quite a few crimes to the man.

Dean pushes open the door and takes a seat right next to Lucifer. He’s not sure if that was the brightest move, but that’s what he chose. If they’re going to try to make a marriage work, they should get used to sitting near each other even when they’re in differing opinions. “Where do we want to start?”

“Let’s start with the biggest issue for us to make the plan work. What the hell are we doing with the half-brother?” Crowley offers.

Lucifer casts his eyes down to stare at Dean. This time he’d let his human set some limits and try to figure out a way to fix the problem without breaking Dean’s requirements. This impacted Dean more than him, more than Crowley, more than all the demons in hell, so Dean gets to go first.

Dean realizes after a moment that Lucifer is going to let him speak first. That’s a show of both trust and respect. Both of those things are extremely important to Dean in relationships. “I don’t want him dead. I can’t handle his death being on my hands when he’s family.” 

“No killing the boy then. Got it. There anything else that you’d prefer the kid didn’t have to go through.”

Dean shakes his head. “Anything else, assuming you can convince me that’s the best option, I’m going to be okay with.”

Crowley lets out a startled laugh. “What if we made the kid a demon?”

“Pardon?” Lucifer asks. 

“You haven’t made a new demon in centuries, I know, but you still have the power. Just make the kid a demon. He can’t hold an angel’s essence anymore, and Dean gets to see how demons are created. Win, win, win.”

Dean glances over at Lucifer before turning back to Crowley. “Will it work?”

“In the simplest sense, yes. Michael can’t try to use your younger brother as a vessel if his soul has become that of a demon, because the body can no longer give permission. In a more complicated answer, no. This will definitely draw the attention of the angels,” Lucifer answers in place of Crowley. He’s running theories in his head. If they do this, then the angels will try an offensive attack before he can wed Dean.

Dean nods. “So the main problem is that the angels will see this as an act of defiance from the plans that God made for all of us.”

Lucifer offers a nod. Unfortunately, that’s one of the only plans that won’t result in them having to kill the brother anyway. Things would be much easier to try to save the kid and just let him die later, but Dean will see through the lie. Caring about others requires way more consideration than Lucifer saw coming.

“What if we distracted the angels?”

“What?” Crowley questions. 

“Crowley, can you pick up my brother that I’ve never once met and drag him down to hell where he’s in our domain?”

“Now?”

Dean gives Crowley the best stink eye he can summon. Seriously weren’t demons supposed to the be the smart ones of the situation. “No, after the rest of the plan, dumbass.”

“No need to get so defensive, squirrel. I can pick up your brother without a tail for a little bit because they won’t see the action coming.”

“Lucifer, can any demons get to the doorsteps of heaven then fall back?”

Lucifer’s brow furrows. He can’t come up with what plan Dean could possibly have up his sleeve right now, but he’ll humor the human for the moment. Who knows what genius plan his fiancé is hiding up his sleeves. “The princes of hell can do that.”  
“So, Azazel?”  
Another nod comes from Lucifer. He still can’t connect the dots, and he’s starting to lose his mind. He is one of the archangels. He was one of God’s favorites once. A long time ago, but still a favorite. 

“Good, then we’re going to formally invite them to a wedding with all the protections of a guest assuming they swear the same for the hosts.”

“The angels?” Lucifer can’t believe what he’s hearing. Dean Winchester has lost his mind. He’s not sure where Dean’s sanity went, but he’s confident it’s no longer anywhere near Dean.

“All of them. Every single angel, all your siblings, all of your angel buddies, even the ones not currently in heaven. I’ll get Sammy to stop by the place Gabriel is hiding according to your visions of the future to deliver that letter. We should send one to God too. They expect us to try hide what we’re doing. They currently think that if we do this it’s because we’ve decided to buck the system, which is true. But we’re going to make them think that what we really want is to be in love and happy.”

Lucifer can’t help letting his head drop to the stone table while laughter fills the room. Distantly, he knows that those laughs are coming from him. This plan is just crazy enough that it will buy them enough time to get Dean some strength before they start some fights. “This plan might just work, but you’ll have to be able to make it look like we’re in love.”

Dean clicks his tongue inside his head. This is perhaps one of his stupidest plans, but he’s wanted to kiss the fallen angel for quite some time now. Not because they were in love. No, this whole situation is far too insane for love to already be a factor, but because the man is his fiancé and hot. Screw it, if this is what kills him for good, he’s lived a decent life.

He picks himself out of the chair and drags Lucifer’s chair back just enough that he can slip himself into Lucifer’s lap. He makes himself comfortable, his lap landing on Lucifer’s legs before Lucifer moves them ever so slightly so that he can still balance his own weight. Then, he leans up and presses their lips together before pulling back. “I think I can make them believe that. Especially when on days like this where I am in your clothes and on your lap, and you aren’t pushing me off.”

Lucifer wraps an arm around Dean’s waist and presses a kiss to Dean’s cheek. Part of him wants to drag Dean in for a deeper kiss, but they don’t need to be trying to deal with any attempts at romance, while they’re still trying to plan a future. This is as close as he’ll get right now. This is still more than he’s ever allowed himself to do before. “Yes, we can pull this off. Crowley, thoughts?”

“My lord, Dean. I once would have called you insane inside my own head when I was far enough away to be reasonably sure that you couldn’t hear me. After this plan, I can guarantee that you’re both the right kinds of crazy to compliment each other. I’m your loyal subject, I’d follow this plan even if I didn’t think it was the most ingenious plan possible.”

“Wonderful, then Dean and I will craft letters, but you won’t go grab the brother until the same time Azazel goes to deliver invitations to the wedding of the century.”

Crowley nods immediately following the order without question, except he has a relatively important question. “Dean, when I go grab your brother should I tell him what’s happening?”

Dean shakes his head. “No. He deserves to believe that the world is as nice and simple as he was raised. He doesn’t need to know that his brother is the new king of hell. Just find something to hold over his head in case he says no.”

“Do I have permission to use it?”

Dean wants to say no. He wants to remain someone who’s willing to put all people’s needs before anything of his, but that wouldn’t just hurt him, it would hurt all of his people too and a lot of humans. Sometimes the right choice isn’t perfect. “Yes. Do what you need to do, just don’t ask me to like it.”

Lucifer’s hand tightens around him. “If you liked it, you wouldn’t be Dean Winchester. Crowley, leave us and go get some supplies for some very fancy invitations and send them in with Azazel.”


	10. The Invitations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Lucifer have to actually invite people to the wedding, right? Right.

Dean reaches out to pull himself out of Lucifer’s lap, when he realizes that Lucifer’s hand is still wrapped around his waist. He could break out of the grip rather easily, but he doesn’t really want to. They already end up sleeping in the same bed most nights, and he hasn’t asked about that. This isn’t really all that different. 

“Does your family know any demons that we could send to ask them to see whether Gabriel will come despite me being a giant back of dicks?”

“That what your brother called you in the other universe? They met Crowley.”

“This would be so much easier if I could leave hell,” Lucifer complains.

“Why can’t you?” He knows that Lucifer tried to explain it earlier, but he didn’t follow it very well. It had to do with the human body that he’s showing Dean right now because that’s not what he normally looks like.

“The vessel is dried up.”

Dean raises an eyebrow. That was the most half-assed explanation he’s ever heard in his life. Maybe Lucifer doesn’t want to tell him, but if that was true than he was going to have to grow another pair of balls and tell him to his face.

“Right. I forget that you don’t know anything in this universe. I dragged you into a whole mess of things.” He almost feels guilty about the amount of chaos he’s slowly dragged Dean into. They may not know the end result, but barely anything, if anything at all, would stay the same. 

“You definitely dragged me into a mess, but if you didn’t, I’d be jump-starting the apocalypse, and I don’t relish the idea of going through a fight where all my enemies are about thirty times more powerful. Tell me what’s happening right now, we can worry about everything else later.”

“Even the good things that I’ve drug you away from?”

A sigh escapes Dean’s lips. He figured that his other life wasn’t completely terrible. He figured he had a couple of happy memories that he won’t have in this one, but from what Lucifer said he didn’t ever get to keep any of his happiness for long. “The good things, did I ever get to keep them?”

“Most of them weren’t yours to keep,” Lucifer admits.

“Then if you don’t mind keeping them to yourself, I’d appreciate it. I don’t need to hold doubts when we’re trying to possibly overthrow God. Now, will you stop avoiding my question?”

“They die, or at least their bodies do. They can’t hold an archangel for long. So, they slowly decay. This body has no form on Earth,” Lucifer says. He doesn’t want to deal with Dean asking how he could care so little about making people suffer, about making them live without bodies, or rather live without bodies on Earth.”

Dean blinks as he regards this information. He isn’t necessarily surprised that there were some restrictions on the archangels’ powers, because otherwise he assumes that Michael would be smiting people on a general daily basis. He’s not confident on why Lucifer seems to think he’ll have a problem with this limitation. Sure, it sucks that the humans no longer have a body on Earth, but by the time that they’re in heaven or hell that ship has practically already sailed. “If you grabbed a new vessel on Earth, could you put this one on back in hell?”

“Yes, but that’s your only question right now? How it affects me?”

“Lucifer, I have no idea why you think I should have an issue with the things happening right now. I’m trying to fix this problem, so while Crowley delivers letters to Sam, you can go pick up Adam and convince him to sign up for demonic powers for eternity. Now, a even better question, if my body can hold Michael, can it hold you?”

Lucifer stares at Dean for a second, then shakes his head. “I have no idea what thoughts are going on in your head right now, but you’ve lost all sanity.”

Dean rubs his forehead. This plan won’t work when they both need to be on Earth at the same time, but that’s a problem for a day when they need to get them both on Earth’s surface. He doesn’t need to be in his body in hell, if him and Lucifer switch when Lucifer needs to leave hell, then nothing bad will happen. “Will you hear me out?”

Those words send Lucifer’s rant to a grinding halt. He wishes that his family had given him a chance to speak before declaring him evil. He wishes his father hadn’t decided that fighting the forces that were his Aunt had been more important than his sanity. He’s already agreed to make Dean his new family and he doesn’t want this new family to end up in the same situation as what he had been in. He nods to Dean to show that he’s willing to listen.

“If my body can hold you, then we can use it when you need to go to Earth while I don’t. We just switch vessels, or I suppose I don’t have a vessel, just a soul, but the process should be similar. That way for simple missions like this, we don’t have to worry about you burning through all the willing humans that are down here, or any of the demons we could convince to give up a body for a while for you. Obviously, we’ll need a better plan later on, but this could be a temporary solution.”

Lucifer despises the idea of wearing his fiancé’s skin, but he has to admit that this plan has quite a few perks, including not having to tempt one of the humans down on the racks to allow him access to their bodies. “Alright. We’ll do it your way, but we’re finding a better solution as soon as we’re married and we have you at a higher power than human.”

“Deal.”

A knock draws both of their heads towards the door to the conference room. Lucifer sends out a wave of power to identify which demon was bold enough to knock on his door at this time. When he finds Azazel, he remembers that they had called him. “Enter, Azazel.”

Azazel walks inside and offers a bow to both him and Dean without any hesitation. “The demon Crowley implied that you had a need for me, my lords.”

Dean snorts under his breath as he thinks of how much of an understatement that makes it seem. 

Lucifer pinches Dean’s side. They don’t need Azazel to be too worried about the situation that dragged them into this mess. He’d lose his mind if he knew that his King had plans to destroy the future of the world as it was to create a better one. “We have a job that really can’t be done by anyone but a prince of hell.”

“It would be my pleasure to complete any such job. What is it that you require of me?”

“We need you to walk up to heaven’s front door and drop off a lot of letters, like one labeled to each angel. Then, we need you to wait until an angel actually comes to grab them, because we need them to have these letters, before you flee,” Lucifer explains. 

Dean glances up at that part to register whether any fear crosses Azazel’s face. His first order as king will not be to hurt someone. Yet, he finds no fear on Azazel’s face. 

“You’re really going to invite the angels to the wedding?” The excitement in his voice can’t even be contained. This could mean an epic battle, or screwing over God so badly that God actually has to switch plans. He thought this was a joke that Dean was telling that Lucifer allowed him to continue, not a possibility.

“We are. We’re planning on tricking them into believing this is a love match, instead of a power grab of epic proportions,” Dean answers.

Azazel bares his teeth in a grin as he stares at his new king. Only a true demon king would dare to do something this bold without any hesitation, which means that Lucifer did know what he was doing when he said yes to Dean or perhaps when he asked Dean to say yes. He’s not sure when the whole relationship thing happened, but that’s not his place to question.

“Thought of a problem with our plan,” Lucifer says, burying his face in Dean’s shoulder. For once he’d like to be able to come up with a plan that will work without having to go back to the brainstorming table.

“What’s the problem?”

“God, dad, whatever. If I was marrying you, because I loved you, because I couldn’t stand to continue to exist in a world where we weren’t together, I’d invite my father. Even after all he’s done, I’d want him to know the person that I fell in love with. Perhaps, he’d even find it within himself to forgive me.” He hates how true all of those words were. He really would have immediately wanted his dad at his wedding if this was real. 

“Then, we invite him. You said you knew where he is from that future universe thing you looked at. I assume it’s on the human realm, and he’s pretending to be human. We send in Bobby. We tell him nothing other than to deliver this letter to the place, just in case something goes wrong, while we know it’s so God can’t tell that Bobby knows that he’s God,” Dean answers. That was a simple solution, honestly. Most of the time, he’s the least capable of problem solving between Bobby and Sammy being the actual nerds of the group. 

Azazel glances between the two of them. “Do you want me to leave?” He knew that the love thing was a play, but he had no idea what Dean meant about Lucifer knowing where God was. None of this made any sense. 

“Yes. Leave the card stuff here. Dean and I still have to design these things before we can even debate being able to call it a day. Maybe, we wait until tomorrow to do the rest of everything,” Lucifer snaps. 

Azazel drops the rest of the supplies that Crowley sent him with onto the table and dashes out of the room. He does not want to be caught in the middle of an argument between Lucifer and someone he’s decided that he’s not willing to hurt. That seems like a really good way to get his insides pulled out and examined for the fun of it.

Lucifer turns to stare at Dean. “That’s risky. If he shows up, I can hide him from being able to see my own true purposes, but I can’t fake yours. That might be too large of a risk, the angels attacking could be the better of the two scenarios.”

“Darling, I hate the fact that I have to point this out to you, because I could hear the truth as you said why we need to invite God, but he will never come. He will never see your love as true. He will never forgive you for actions you took because of actions he made. He will never wish you well. There is no risk, Lucifer. It’ll give him a head start to try to change the rules of the game, but He won’t come, and He won’t see through the lie,” Dean murmurs. He doesn’t want to be the bearer of bad news. He wishes he could tell Lucifer that he’s right, and that they need a better plan, but that would be a lie. He will not be the first person to utter a lie in this relationship. 

Lucifer doesn’t try to stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks. After everything, he can’t even deny that he wants his father to come home, to rescue him from himself, to say I’m sorry. Dean’s right, he’ll never get that. He’ll never get his family back.

Dean reaches up and brushes the tears off of Lucifer’s face. He doesn’t think the angel realizes that he’s speaking out loud, so he just lays a soft kiss on Lucifer’s cheek. “I can’t give you the family that you lost, but I can give you a new one. One with me, my crazy brother, that weird uncle who never seems to meet a monster he doesn’t know, and maybe even a couple angels who are willing to come to hell to watch you get married.”

Lucifer looks up into Dean’s eyes, and he wants to believe this. But why would the human try? This marriage is a sham, a means to an end. Sure, it’s forever bonding, but that doesn’t mean Dean should have to try this. “You don’t have to.” Even when what he wants to say is promise me.

Dean leans into Lucifer’s chest, fitting their bodies together. Maybe the touch that grounds him after a nightmare will help calm Lucifer down from whatever this is. It’s not a panic attack, but it isn’t normal either. “No, I don’t, but I will. Everyone deserves a family. Your father left you to suffer alone, which led to this marriage being a thing. I don’t care if we don’t marry for love, I’m going to attempt to love you anyway. I can’t promise it will ever be romantic, but I can promise you it will be love.”

Lucifer leans into the touch. His eyes fall closed and he lets himself feel the warmth of another person for a while. This comfort is nice, and that promise may be broken one day, but for right now, he can believe it. 

Dean shifts so that rather than their chests touching, his back is pressed into Lucifer’s so he can stare at the supplies on the table. He never really thought about his wedding and what he’d want to do with his invitations. He wonders whether he’ll even be able to get the one thing he did always want, which was a family ring to give to the person he’d marry. With dad dead, he didn’t think he’d even be able to find the ring. So, he might as well try to put some thought into this card. 

Another glance back at Lucifer has him realizing that perhaps the cards were going to be more on him than on Lucifer. “What if we used a flaming heart?”

“What?”

“For the card design. A black heart with flames surrounding it, the devil and the righteous man. Twisted soul and a never-ending fight.”

Lucifer flicks his wrist and the cardstock aligns for the thousands of cards to show that black heart with the flames all around it. He shifts his head back and forth, trying to think of one other thing. Something that shows them connected as well. Then, he grins and a gold line of glitter lines the heart. “And the halo that binds us.”

Dean stares down at the blank canvas of paper that now has stacks of his card idea on top of it. He loves the card. That’s when the laughter begins, and he can’t stop it. Only he would end up married in such a bizarre way that he doesn’t have to debate the cost of different designs or the time to put into making them. All he has to do is ask.

“What’s amusing you so much, Dean?”

“I don’t have to think about the money. I don’t need to think about the time commitments before a plan emerges. I can just do whatever I want for this wedding.”

Lucifer lets out a short chuckle. “Yes, you can I suppose. For the generic statement, I was thinking something along the lines of, you are hereby formally invited to the wedding of Lucifer Morningstar, the devil, the Lord of darkness, and King of hell with Dean Winchester, the righteous man, denier of death, and King of hell.”

Dean pauses for a moment. All of that sounded good, but something was missing, then he realized. “All may come should they swear that they will honor the rules of hospitality. No harm will come to any who enter, nor any who host the event. Guests are encouraged, and gifts are optional,” he adds.

Lucifer gives another flick of his wrist and in silver lettering the words appear on the giant stack of cards. He leans up so he can see them better for a moment. “Most of the angels can be just names, but I think personalized messages should go to Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and God.”

“I would like to write personalized messages to Bobby, Sam, Jo, and Ellen. Jo and Ellen don’t need to know about our plans, but I’d like for them to come if they are willing.”

“Let’s write yours first, because honestly, you’re on good speaking terms with most of the people you’re writing too, I haven’t spoken to any of mine in years.”

Dean grabs one from the top, picks up a pen that seems to write silver despite looking like a regular ballpoint pen, and sprawls Bobby’s name up at the top. “What do you think of? For the man who was always the better father, I want nothing more than for you to come be with me on my wedding day.”

Lucifer nods immediately. “Add in, that you’d appreciate him assisting in the ceremony.”

“Am I walking down the aisle,” Dean teases.

Lucifer pokes Dean in the side. “No, but he could stand beside you as the father of the groom often does while they are being married.”

Dean quickly sprawls out the message in the silver ink, slowly and carefully. He doesn’t want any of these cards to be messed up. For once in his life, he’d like this part to go easier. The words don’t come out quite the way he spoke them, but he figures that Bobby will be happy to get such a sappy letter from a man who’s made a lifetime of running away from his emotions.

Lucifer sets his chin down as he regards the one Dean titled Sammy. “You should ask him to be your best man. Humans always seem to cherish the idea of recognizing one person above all on this special day, and Sam is the one person that you’d do anything for.”

Dean already planned on doing that, but he can’t resist such a clear opening for some teasing. “I’d even go to hell and end up in an engagement with a devil.”

Lucifer has started to get used to Dean’s constant teasing. He shakes his head automatically when the words come. “More like he’d end up in hell for his brother and get offered a deal so spectacular how could he ever say no.”

Dean writes his message pretty quickly after that. Sam’s has the invitation of best man, plus enough sappy shit that his brother might slug him after seeing him for the first time after he wrote that much sap in one day. Jo’s invitation was short and sweet. He had hit on her when they were both alive, but this was about his new life, with a different person. Ellen’s invitation was longer. That woman gave him a place to stay when he was tired and made sure that John always had a place to fall back to if he ever gave up chasing the demon that killed mom. He hopes Ellen at least will come, but given her possible prejudice against his fiancé, he wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t come.

Lucifer pauses as he stares at the invitations for Jo and Ellen. “Do we need to send someone to hand deliver these?”

Dean freezes as he realizes the biggest thing that they’ve forgotten to do for any of these. “That would depend on the date for the ceremony. We don’t actually have a date, Lucifer. When are we getting married? Who’s allowed to officiate us? How do we have a wedding?”

“Breathe, Dean. Breathe for me. Don’t work yourself up for no reason.” Lucifer runs his hand along Dean’s back until he gets Dean to start breathing at normal rates again. “There you go. No reason to panic. We can claim the wedding will happen on the first day of spring, March 21nd.”

Dean lets out a shaky breath then nods. That gives them a month to plan the rest of the wedding and here back from some people if they were going to come or attack. An attack might be more pleasant, he’s more adept at dealing with things trying to kill him than he is at dealing with emotions. “If anyone asks, we can tell them because we want our love to grow as the flowers do.”

“Smart. I like it.” Another wave of his hand adds the date to all the many cards sitting in front of them. He knows that at this point he needs to start writing his invitations. “Dean?”

A question that he might not like then. He’s getting used to reading when Lucifer asks him things that he’s not sure will have a positive reaction. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I want my brother’s as groomsmen. All of them, even if they don’t come, I want to offer. I want to ask dad to officiate even though I know he won’t come. I want to offer Gabriel the position of best man, because I taught him how to trick people, and now he’s out there doing just that. I want to try for my family. They might spit on my face, but I want to try,” Lucifer rambles. This isn’t a smart look, but now that he’s actually agreed to start down the path of being a better person even when all of the forces of the universe are trying to force him into a different position.

“Of course. Write whatever you want, other than the truth about our love, and I’ll be okay with what you ask them for. Who knows, maybe they’ll surprise us and show up?”

Lucifer cracks a small smile. “Yeah, who would you put your money on?” The question is meant to be a distraction while he writes God’s invitation with all of the dramatic flairs that a man in love who wants his father’s approval would say. 

“I’m pretty confident Gabriel will show up, after all he’s the one you were the one he was closest too.”

“Did I ever tell you what else he said when he called me a giant bag of dicks?”

“No, what did he say?” Dean leans into Lucifer’s side giving him silent support. Family shouldn’t be this hard, but for them it always seems to be. He wishes it could be different, but he knows that it never will be. Not if God was still messing with the internal structures of their futures, trying to force them into an apocalypse. 

“Lucifer, you are my brother, and I love you. But you are giant big bag of dicks.”

Dean falls over laughing. The most important thing in that sentence, and Lucifer focuses on the insult. “I think, perhaps in his note, you should ask him to look into the future that would have been.”

“You think I should tell him more?”

Dean blinks before shrugging. “In a universe where you were literally trying to kill every human that ever existed, he still loved you. He loves you in this one too. You deserve your little brother by your side, just as much as I do.”

Lucifer flicks the pen in a quick cursive message for Gabriel just as Dean suggests. He doesn’t quite believe Dean, but at the same time, Dean is far better with emotions than he is, which might doom them both. He adds in the question about being the best man in there too, even if he doubts Gabriel will even show up. 

Rafael’s letter seems simple. His brother often wants logic and simple arguments, so he doesn’t place nearly as much attention to emotions in this one. He mentions that he found love after everything, and that he’d appreciate some family there when he takes the next step in his life, along with a question to officiate if their father chooses not to show up. His choice of most likely to show up was Rafael, because the logical thing to do was show up to make sure that even if this was a trick that an archangel would be there to try to stop him.

Michael’s letter was difficult. This was his older brother, the angel that he wanted love from almost as much as he wanted love from dad. He couldn’t hide the truth from that in this invitation, if he wanted it to read true at all. The words flow after a minute, by the time that he’s done, tears are rolling down his cheeks again. It’s been far too long since he even tried to reach out to family, because God had sworn that all he’d do is destroy them. 

Dean brushes those tears away once more, before leading him out of the room. There was nothing more to be done today, and he’d fight anyone who even suggested that something needed to be done. He may still be human, but he’s a Winchester, he could take a few demons with enough determination.


	11. The One Where Dean is Lucifer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry. The title says it all, but I'm here to tell you that's it's going to be okay. You might not believe me, that's okay too, I'm the author.

By the time, Dean pulls himself into a state that resembles being awake, Crowley is sitting on the edge of the bed. “Lucifer didn’t want you waking up alone, but he needed to go make sure that all the stuff for this plan have been managed,” Crowley explains. 

Dean nods. He’s not sure why Lucifer cared whether he woke up alone, since he wasn’t the one that went to sleep while still crying, but that’s not a question he’ll be asking while he still wants to keep his head. He needs coffee before he deals with anything, and he doesn’t even know if hell has coffee. “We got coffee?”

A mug appears in his hands a moment later. Crowley shrugs. “That was probably Lucifer. He can hear just about everything that happens in hell while he’s down here.”

Dean downs the hot liquid in one go and blinks his eyes until the sleepiness fades into the background. He rolls his shoulders to stretch a few of the muscles out before he starts the day. “So, today is the day. We’re going to attempt to bluff God, all the angels, and a couple humans.”

Crowley claps his shoulder. “Now you’re getting it. We’re doing the impossible to prove that it is in fact not impossible just unpractical.”

Dean shakes his head. “I figure since I’ll be here in hell doing nothing while you’re all out doing random things for the wedding, I’ll try to plan some of the wedding.”

“Decent plan, but you’ll have to be planning our wedding while you’re leading court,” Lucifer drawls as he sweeps into the room without even glancing at the other demon sitting on his bed. 

“Of course, I will.”

“Are you still wanting to switch our bodies? I can probably try to find a different vessel for this first visit to Earth in a solid multiple millennium.”

Dean glares at him as he stands up from the bed. “Just switch us, already. I’d rather get this show on the road than continuously stress about the different reactions that people are going to have once they have the invitations.”

Lucifer turns and plops himself down on top of the bed. He does not need Dean dropping this vessel onto the floor the second he’s in a body different than his own. It’s an extremely strange feeling that’s for sure. “I need you to say the specific words that you are allowing me to take your body to use for my own purposes.”

“I, Dean Winchester, the righteous man and future king of hell, do allow Lucifer Morningstar, the devil and king of hell, to take my body to use as he please for his actions on earth.” Then, he feels horizontal, which is weird given that he was standing before he said those words.

“Dean, bestie, are you alright?”

That was Crowley. He could sit up to face Crowley. He convinces the body to sit up and ends up staring at himself. He promptly falls backwards back onto the bed. “Lucifer, you were right. We need a better plan, because this is way too trippy.”

Crowley nods. “I’ll try to brainstorm one as I convince both your brother who probably still wants me dead for beseeching your father’s love to your mother and Bobby to do stuff that is almost completely insane.”

Dean grins as he considers that. “Don’t die. You’re a creative and wily bastard. We’re going to need like 8 of those in order to take down God.”

Lucifer laughs. “Between you and me, we have three. We just need five more by your count.”

Dean pushes himself off the bed while avoiding eye contact with Lucifer, who’s in his own body. “Alright, you guys get a move on. I’ll take care of Hell while you’re gone, try to keep it from complete destruction and what not.”

“Do me a favor,” Lucifer asks. 

“What’s that?”

“Don’t tell them you aren’t me until you have to.”

Dean puts on a grin that rivals some of Lucifer’s more crazy ones when he’s in front of the members of court. “That’s not a favor. That’s just good fun.”

Lucifer squeezes his eyes closed. Dean doesn’t realize how precariously his situation depends on Lucifer even now. He’d prefer he could keep at least one of the demons that have already come to believe Dean is their leader with him, but that’s not an option this time. Too many things to do, not a lot of time to get this stuff done. “Humor me? Promise me?”

Dean catches the way Lucifer flinches when he said that it would be good fun. He refuses to let the terror back in. If he’s made it this far, he’ll make it through this. “Promise.”

Crowley lets out a deep sigh. “With that, I’m gone. Dean, I’ll be back the second I give the message to your brother and Bobby. Try really hard, not to get yourself into trouble before then.”

“Trouble is my middle name, but I’ll try. I promise.”

Crowley leaves with a single snap of his fingers. 

Lucifer pauses for an extra moment but takes a step back and disappears. 

Dean is alone in his room in Lucifer’s skin, and he has to move. He needs to move and hold court. He needs to do a hundred different things, but instead he grabs a drink of water first.   
Then, he marches straight out of the room. He allows none of the doubt in his head to be shown in his body. He walks a straight path to the throne room. He’ll have to be careful to sit in Lucifer’s throne not his own once he gets there. He’s sure that he’ll give himself away at some point. He’s not nearly as powerful as Lucifer, but perhaps he’ll be able to hold on until Crowley gets back.  
Demons scurry out of his way as he walks down the hall. He gives them no mind. He refuses to allow the confidence that brings show, because the second any of them see this coming, he’s dead or at least tortured. He’s good at provoking anger. He’ll be able to convince them to torture him first. Not sure what’s that worth. 

Quite a few demons are waiting in the throne room, but Dean lets nothing faze him as he takes his seat. He tries to remember how Lucifer started the other meeting but decides that Lucifer is just chaotic enough to never have a schedule. “Start talking.”

Ruby, the demon that seemed to hate him and all he stood for, steps forward. “I notice the lack of your future husband.”

“That means you have eyes. Do you have a point or are you wasting time?” He’s not sure whether he’s ever made his voice sound that bored when he’s that terrified before. 

“I was wondering whether his absence could perhaps symbolize that you’ve decided to continue the war with heaven.”

Dean fixes her with his best empty stare. “Perhaps one of the smarter demons in the room can explain to you just how idiotic that question is?”

“Is it because you never change your mind?” one demon shouts. 

A half smile travels up Dean’s face as if he’s willing to take on Lucifer’s position for a time. “That’s certainly one of the reasons. Anyone else got any guesses that they’d like to throw out?”

“You hate God, but the war is something that he wants, or at the very least he wrote. You plan on making God even more angry by not following the plan on top of already being the rebellious son.”  
Dean chooses not to spread his eyes out to try to see who said that, nor does he ask for a name. Whoever spoke most likely was a demon that Lucifer knows, thus if he shows a reaction that doesn’t seem as though he knows precisely what’s happening. He turns to Ruby with a pitying expression. “Do you understand now, or do you need more of a lesson?”

Ruby’s eyes flicker closed, and she falls to her knees. “I understand. I don’t need a lesson. I am just trying to be a loyal subject.”

Dean tears his eyes away from the demon kneeling. In his opinion, letting her suffer kneeling on the stone floor, not sure whether or not she’ll be punished further after he’s done. “Talk to me about the problems.”

“My lord, we have a demon tracking your fiancé’s family. She was already under orders not to harm them, but none of us know whether you wish her to continue her mission or not.”

Dean almost furrows his lips and demands her removal, but that would not only give him away but cause the demons to be extremely angry that he dared to give them an order. Some people might claim that he has no brain when it comes to family, but he thinks he has just enough. “What information has she gathered since Crowley took Dean to speak to the family? That will determine how we use her.”

“She claims that they seem to be under the illusion that you, my lord, are planning on turning to the good side. She believes that this is one of the only reasons they aren’t attacking us.”

Dean lets out a deep laugh that covers the room. “The first fallen angel reforming, Dean must be a better liar than I thought. He was upset by the idea that his brother and uncle might not show up to the wedding if they knew that he fell in love with a devil, so I gave him permission to say whatever lies, he thinks would convince them to come.”

“Of course, my lord. Of course. You would never turn coats. That being said, what shall we tell Meg?”

“Tell Meg that she should continue reporting what they seem to think of the entire situation and report the second any angelic movement starts picking up.”

The court bows to him as he makes that statement, then the demons start leaving. 

Dean almost sighs in relief but reins it in at the last moment. Honestly, he’s never been happier that the demons were managing to torture folks without too much issue right now. He’s not sure whether he would have succeeded in bluffing had they asked him what to do with a particular soul that was on the racks and not breaking. 

His eyes spin towards Ruby, who remains kneeling on the floor. A small amount of cruelty seems like a decent plan at this time. “If I told you to kneel here until the next time, we hold court in order to earn my mercy, what would you do? Would you continue to be an idiot and try to outsmart me? Would you stay here? Would you beg? I think we should find out.”

Ruby’s breath comes out in ragged increments. She doesn’t’ start begging, but even as a human, Dean can tell that she wants to beg. She wants someone to come and save her from this fate.

“Do you want to know something that makes me want to laugh? That human that you hate so much, the one that I will marry. He would still stand in front of you to take your punishment, if you looked with this much pity at him. He’d stand in front of me even against God for the same reason. That’s how I know he’s worthy.”

“He has to know of my hatred.”

The smile spreads across Dean’s face as he taps her face and points her head back down to the ground. “He knows. He just doesn’t care. You will stay here until I retrieve you or until we hold court again. I suppose if Dean comes to relieve you as your king, you are allowed to follow his commands because I won’t take pity on you.”

He walks out of the room without pausing. He’s not sure whether he’ll be able to pull this off for long now that court has ended. Dean can get away without prowling hell, Lucifer does not have that luxury, and right now he’s not Dean Winchester. He’s Lucifer Morningstar.


	12. The Family #2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley has to convince Sam to go talk to a trickster god, who is actually an archangel and trick Bobby into giving an invitation to an author, who is actually God without either of them ending up dead. Easy, right?

Crowley has one of the easiest jobs for the day to start with followed by one of the more difficult things he’s ever been asked to do. Does anyone else realize that trying to keep a human alive in hell without actually having the power of an archangel was nearly impossible? Why is this his life? Right, because he doesn’t want to end up dead today which is his other option. 

As he arrives near the entrance to Bobby’s house, he wonders whether he’ll die in this first portion of the day and not worry about the rest of the situation. They know he’s working with Dean, maybe that will be enough to stay their hands. Regardless of his worries, he reaches up and knocks on the door.

The door swings open with Bobby pointing a shotgun straight at the demon. Bold enough that the demon entered the house when Dean was here, but to show up without any sight of Dean was just stupid. “What in the living hell are you doing here?”

“Dean needs your help, but he needs to actually rule hell at the moment, since Lucifer needs to leave to take care of even more of the insanity that we’re currently planning.”

Bobby’s glare didn’t lessen, but he did lower the gun and back away from the door. As a rule of thumb, he doesn’t trust demons, but for some reason Dean seems to trust the demon. He can’t figure out whether hell actually the man he’d learned to call son, or whether Dean was in his right mind and choosing to go down this path anyway. He may never know the answer to that question. Something tells him even if he ever becomes confident on one or other option, the devil could be behind it.

Crowley takes the offer and steps inside. He takes the invitations out his pocket. He hands Sammy’s over, then Bobby’s, followed by the two of Jo and Ellen. “Dean said you could get this to them.”

“Aye. I can get the letters to the girls,” Bobby says with a moderate grunt. Invitations were not what he expected from a time like this. Sure, the wedding was a thing, but out of everything he figured invitations would fall pretty low on the list. 

“There are a couple extra invitations that demons, nor Dean can deliver, and we were hoping you might be willing to help out. It’s all in the plan to try and ensure Dean doesn’t end up dead before the wedding.”

Sam pauses where he’s been fingering the opening to the letter to stare at Crowley. “That almost sounds like compassion.”

“You don’t know me, Sam Winchester. In a universe, we’re trying to make sure never happens, we were something akin to friends. Your brother and I were friends, for me the person I was closest to in the entire world. So, yes, I care. For more reasons than the life I don’t have. You don’t trust me. That’s good, that’ll keep you alive. He trusts me. That’s wonderful, that’ll keep him happy and alive.”

Bobby huffs out a laugh. “He stopped Sam from killing you once. That’s one of the highest praises from the man that you’re likely to ever get.”

Crowley digs out two more letters from the inside of his suit pocket. He hands one of them to Bobby. “An author. Might seem ridiculous, honestly it might just be ridiculous. But in the other universe he matters, so we’re inviting him. For better or for worse.”

“Dean agree?”

“If one of my kings disagreed with any of these invitations, I would be running and hiding instead of handing things to you. I like my skin on my body with my head attached. I’d slip the letter under the door and leave. The guy is paranoid, and I don’t relish telling Dean that you died.”

Bobby snorts. “Sammy, before you leave, be sure to kick the fancy talking demon out of my house. Other than that, I’m off to deliver a letter.”

Crowley turns to Sam with no hesitation. He drops the remaining letter into Sam’s hands. When he hears the car start up, he knows that he needs to tell Sam more than he told Bobby. Not the full truth, like he’s driving to an archangel. “He goes by the trickster, and he’s barely not a god. Don’t piss him off and give him the invitation. If he starts giving you orders, follow them.”

“Sending me into the more dangerous situation, then.”

Crowley can’t contain his laughter as he bends over. In fairness, it certainly seems like he’s sending the youngest Winchester on the harder battle, little did he know that the truth is so much crazier. “Oh, kiddo, you don’t the half of it.”

“You going to tell me more?”

Crowley shakes his head. “Not without permission, not if it endangers Dean or Lucifer, not if it will undoubtably lead to my untimely demise.”

“How many of those would this break?”

“All of them. For various different reasons.”

Sam snatches the envelope from Crowley, then stares at the demon. “If the man I’m giving this too is that powerful, couldn’t he answer these questions?”

Crowley grins over at Sam. For once he appears to be getting smarter when it comes to figuring out the ways of the world. “Now you’re using that brain of yours. Try to keep using it. You might piece together some of the truth.” Then, he snaps his fingers and disappears, falling back into hell. He needs to make sure that Dean hasn’t gotten himself killed in like a single day. 

Crowley arrives to see Barthamus standing outside of Lucifer’s door. He arches an eyebrow unwillingly to speak just in case that gives him away as something particularly unhelpful in the situation. Knowing his luck he would have to buy Dean enough time for Lucifer to get back from his job, or perhaps he’d only have to wait for Azazel.

“Figured out that he wasn’t Lucifer in the court. He did everything almost perfectly, the only problem was that he didn’t know any names. Lucifer always makes sure to call at least one person by name every meeting. No one else thought anything odd, because honestly, it’s a stretch.”

Crowley shrugs before taking up a similar position by the door. “Good call. They switched bodies so that Lucifer could go wreak some havoc on Earth.”

“Dean Winchester was okay with that?”

“Dean Winchester isn’t a normal person. We’re always choosing between different types of evil. The new king of hell decided he prefers Lucifer’s version of evil than God’s.”

A single nod comes from Barthamus. “I don’t actually know if he’s in there, I just know that’s where I’d go if I wasn’t actually Lucifer.”

“Well shit. That means Dean definitely isn’t here.”


	13. The Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azazel meets Castiel. There's a situation I never thought I'd write, but here we are.

Azazel left almost as soon as the morning struck, and the invitations were in his hands. He doesn’t really want to go knocking on heaven’s door, but if he’s going to end up stuck with the job, he sure as hell ain’t going to wait around for it. 

As he slips around Earth, looking for one of the doorways heaven leaves for angels to travel back and forth, he realizes that he didn’t even think to question Dean’s orders. He’s used to never questioning Satan’s. He knows that would result in death, but he doesn’t think Dean would kill him for not following an order, so why does he care. That doesn’t seem normal for him.

It could be a feeling of gratitude. He’s never felt those emotions before, but it wouldn’t be out of the question for that to happen. He should be dead. He touched something that belonged to the one true king of hell, and he did it without pause, but Dean’s words saved him. He doesn’t understand why those words were spoken, but they saved him all the same. 

He arrives at the sand box that the angels have been using for a couple of centuries and stands next to it. He has no idea what words he could possibly utter that would convince a whole bunch of angels that this was not a trap. “Angels of heaven, this is Azazel, prince of hell. Angels and demons don’t always attempt to communicate, for good reasons, but still Satan believes that this is one of the rare times that breaking that norm is a good cause. Would you send someone down to talk to me?”

To be honest, he won’t even be surprised if that gets him smited. That would make sense of the angels. Get rid of one enemy even if that enemy is telling the truth. 

A beam of light strikes down on the sand box, and an angel steps out. “Introductions are in order I suppose. “I am called Castiel. The upper level angels don’t believe that I have use to them, so they’ve agreed that I can comes speak to you, because even if you are lying the only cost is me.”

Azazel snorts. “Under the previous rules of engagement I probably would have killed you the second you stepped out of the sand box, but as I stated things are changing. The Lord of hell has chosen to take a husband.”

“I’m sorry. Lucifer, God’s old favorite, now turned devil, is getting married.”

“Yes. I’m a little gladdened that you find it odd as well. Then again, most of the actions my lord takes seem a bit far fetched to normal demons or angels. Anyway, I was told to give you invitations. I think there are some for literally everyone.”

“Are we allowed to come?”

Azazel furls his brow in confusion. Why would someone invite people to a wedding, then not let them come? That seems ridiculous even for demons. “Well of course. According to Satan, we’re swearing the guest rights as are you. I suppose someone could try to break it, but I am confident that if that happens either of my kings will quite literally kill them on the spot.”

“A love match then, who want to have a nice wedding with the whole family,” Castiel concludes. 

“Close enough to the truth, that’ll it’ll probably count anyway. I have no clue how they fell in love, or why they seem to care either way on who participates in the wedding, but it seems to matter to them.”

Castiel pauses considering the demons. “I have no clue whether any of the other angels will believe me or him when I give them the invitations, but I will come. I don’t know whether that’s dumb or smart, but I don’t like the idea of anyone getting married without a single member of their family.”

Azazel summons Castiel’s letter out of the stack and holds it out to him. “Here, read this first.”

Castiel flips it open. He’s not surprised that his has no personalized note. He’s not a very important angel, and he doubts that he’ll even be welcomed when he shows up, but he’s going to anyway. Dean Winchester sounds like a familiar name, but he can’t place where he’s heard it before. “I’ll be there. Please tell either of your kings that I will come. That seems like the polite thing to do in a situation like this.”

“You don’t have to be polite to demons. We won’t return the favor, and you’ll be wasting some time.”

“Nevertheless, I will ask to pass along the information.”

Azazel rolls his eyes. Bloody angels, even when they’re breaking the rules, they attempt to remain polite. Only fools would consider showing up at the wedding, which proves so many of his assumptions correct. “If I swear to tell them that you’re coming to the wedding, will you swear to actually make sure the angels get their invitations?”

“Why?”

“Because that’s my job, but unless someone actually lets me into heaven to hand deliver hundreds if not thousands of invitations, I need to trust someone to deliver them, so I don’t get my ass handed to me for not getting these letters to the correct people.”

Castiel blinks up at the demon for a long moment. He didn’t expect the demon to trust him necessarily but surely, he didn’t think that he would deliberately not deliver the invitations. Even if the other angels chose to burn them, that kind of thing is best done by at least giving each person the chance to choose any way they wish too. “Azazel, I will give these letters to each angel that has one, regardless of whether you do me the favor of telling the lucky couple that I am coming.”

Azazel cracks a smile at the angel’s honesty. He’s forgotten that a lot of the younger and lesser angels do not remember the war. They believe in good things and hope and God. He wishes he didn’t have to live with knowing that they’re lying to themselves. He turns to leave because he’s accomplished his mission and surely that was enough.

“Wait. Will you be there? I don’t relish having to sit alone at a wedding that I may get in massive trouble for attending.”

Azazel laughs. Only the angel would think that was ever in question. “I am hosting the wedding along with most demons in hell.”

“Do you not get invitations?”

“Why would we?”

Castiel gives him a stare that suggests that Azazel would be better off trying those tricks on someone else. “Everyone deserves an invitation. Especially if they’re willing to face the wrath of angels for the people getting married.” Then, he steps back into the portal to heaven. 

Azazel stares at the ground where the angel was. He admits to himself that he’d appreciate an invitation, but it’s not like he’d expect one from his kings. He is their subject. He will always attend. That is in the definition of being a loyal subject. 

As he fades back to hell, these thoughts still plague him. He doesn’t know what he expects when he gets back. He’s not sure what he wants. When he sees Crowley standing guard at the door to Satan’s and Dean’s room, he knows he needs to speak to his kings. Tell them about the angel, perhaps ask about the invitations. 

He steps forward, and Crowley stands up straighter. “Azazel, I don’t know whether you are welcome in the room.”

Dean overhears the words as he walks nearby and almost laughs. Either Crowley thought he was in the room still, or he was trying to give the pretense he was in that room while knowing full well that he’s not. “Azazel walk with me,” he calls while continuing to walk the hallways.

“King Dean,” he replies, falling into step.

Dean glances over his shoulder. He wasn’t expecting Azazel to piece it together before he’s spoken more than five words. “Am I that bad at pretending to be the Lord of Darkness?” He catches himself at the last second from calling Lucifer, Lucifer. He doesn’t need to upset the demon if it serves no purpose.

“Not at all, you’re doing quite well. Any of the princes of hell could tell. We can feel our lord’s magic when we are in his presence, and you can’t give off the same energy.”

Dean nods. “I held court. Ruby is currently kneeling in a throne room until the real me allows her to stand up, or the next time court is held.”

“Good. That demon vexes me. She constantly questions the lord while trying to please him. It’s like she’s a broken toy.”

Dean chuckles as they step through a door and take seats. He glances up at Azazel and sees the pain behind his eyes. He never thought he’d have sympathy for his mother’s killer or care if there was pain in his movements, but he does. The demon wasn’t breaking the rules by attacking his mother, in fact he was following the rules. His mother will always have a soft place in his heart, but she made a deal with the demon, same as he did. He doesn’t hate Crowley for dragging him to hell, so he can’t blame Azazel for taking what was owed. Still this isn’t a conversation that he’ll start. 

“I spoke to the angel Castiel. He agreed to give the rest of the invitations out to the angels, along with trying to extract a promise from me, that I’d tell you that he will be in attendance himself regardless of anyone else’s opinion.”

Dean is careful not to give anything about the name away. He’s not supposed to know the future with Azazel. He’s not supposed to know that one of his closest friends in the world, who he’s never met, will be at his wedding anyway. He doesn’t really have an emotional connection to the angel, but he still feels a little lighter knowing that even this version of Castiel that does not yet have the reasons to rebel still does. “Good. I am glad. That means my fiancé will have at least one person from his family in attendance.”

Azazel swallows the lump in his throat. This shouldn’t bother him. He shouldn’t care. Why does he care? “My king,” he starts. The words catch on his tongue before anything can go any further. 

Dean takes pity on the demon. He’s trying to tell him what’s wrong, but he seems afraid. “You can trust me with secrets Azazel. I won’t tell my fiancé if you ask me not to. That is my promise to you.”

“Why don’t I get one?” he blurts out. The words tumbling out of his mouth. Uncharacteristic for him, but he feels hurt that someone he loves as much as his lord would care about angels more than him. 

Dean sighs. Of course, one of the demons would get the most emotional out of everyone. This type of insanity is quickly becoming his normal, and he needs it to stop. “Humans have a tradition of giving the people they don’t live with these invitations to the event where they’re going to start a new life. But the people they live with, don’t get fancy cards to symbolize the love. They got to watch it grow. They were there when the ring was slid on the finger. You don’t have an invitation, because you were here when we told everybody. You were one of the people we loved enough to share the moment in person. A much closer bond than any silly letter with fancy print on it.”

Azazel focuses on the words and his body relaxes. That makes so much sense. They were doing all of this the way humans do. They would do the invitations the same way. “Thank you, my king. Would you allow me another personal question?”

“You can ask me as many questions as you would like, but I make no promises to answer them all.”

“You mention the ring. But you have none and neither does Satan. Is that something you want?”

Dean almost falls over in shock. Of all the people who could possibly figure out that he wasn’t okay with the lack of a ring, it’s Azazel. “I always wanted to give the person I married mom’s ring. The one dad kept locked up, but I don’t know where it is or how to get it.”

Azazel claps Dean on the shoulder. “Once our king is home, I’ll go get it. I was in his head. I know where it is.”

“Thank you,” Dean murmurs as Azazel leaves the room. Time to put on his game face and go back to cruising around hell. This has become normal way too quickly, but that’s the way the world works sometimes.


	14. The Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam gets a choice, because even Lucifer experiences some pity for the kid.

Lucifer slips in and out of the street. No one pays him any attention, which could be a blessing or a curse. He’s hoping that none of the cameras catch onto him, because he’s pretty sure that Dean is wanted in a couple states, and he’d rather not add getting arrested onto the chaos of all that he needs to accomplish today. 

He could have made himself closer to Adam’s house, but he didn’t want to take the risk that the neighborhood would have kids see him appear out of nowhere. He doesn’t like killing kids. He could have had Azazel kill Sam Winchester instead of giving him demon’s blood. That would have been easier in the long run of the plan, but he would have had to let a demon take a child’s life for the actions of their parents. The very idea makes his skin crawl.

He can’t even imagine the torture of being judged for all of God’s actions. His aunt would probably kill him on sight. Honestly, he wouldn’t blame her if she did. He followed God’s orders. He attacked her. Every time he thinks about that night, he realizes that she didn’t fight back, or she didn’t use her full powers while she was fighting back. She was too busy trying to make sure none of the archangels died trying to do the impossible. 

Not for the first time he wishes he knew where she was hidden, so he could break her out. He would move heaven and hell to save her. God wasn’t the good guy, neither was she, but she counter-balanced the mad man that was his father. 

Finally, he reaches the door of Adam’s house, which pulls him out of his own head. He knocks gently on the door. He’ll try threats if simple reassurances aren’t enough to convince the boy to come. 

Adam answers the door and deafly walks backwards. Not a single word slips from his mouth. The grief radiating off of him like a stench. 

Lucifer takes the first step into the house and pieces the puzzle together. The poor boy had just lost his mother, and though he didn’t know it, he lost his father not long ago. “Adam.”

“You’re one of them, aren’t you? One of the brothers, dad told me about.”

Lucifer pauses to consider. If he keeps in character, then his answer should be yes. But he doesn’t want to lie to the poor child today. His soul is so young. He wasn’t made to deal with demons and angels. The battle between destruction and creation. None of this should have ever been made to place on his shoulders. “I am, but I am not.”

Adam slumps onto the couch. “I don’t know what you mean, and I don’t care. Say whatever it is you came to say and then leave. Surely, I have the right to grieve alone.”

“I could promise you a lifetime with her. I could promise you a million different things. That’s what the devil is supposed to do, but they’d all be lies. She’s in heaven, and I can’t let you go there.”

“Can you stop me?”

Lucifer shrugs, taking a seat next to him. “Probably. It wouldn’t be hard to bring you enough misery to force you into saying yes to me rather than them, but while my fiancé, your actual brother, who’s skin I’m wearing, claims he won’t care. He will. I’d prefer for you to come because you agree with why we’re doing all of this.”

Adam scoffs. “My brother engaged to the devil. Father would actually have a heart attack.”

“He’s dead too.”

“The other brother?”

“Alive and healthy. Well, he should be, if he doesn’t piss off the archangel that he’s giving an invitation too.”

Adam glances up at the devil before turning away into the cushions. “If you’re here to kill me, give me a quick death. Drag my soul where you need it.”

“Nope. That’d upset the man, I’m in love with.” He’s surprised with how easy that lie slips out of his mouth. He still sees it as a lie, but not a hardship to admit that he loves the man. 

A pause fills the room while Lucifer waits for a response, then he realizes that the poor boy is too far gone to understand anything that’s happening anymore. Someone broke him, and Lucifer doesn’t even think it was meant to break him. “I can’t give you your mother. But I can give you a family. Allow me to take you alive into hell, become a demon, a vessel of mine. Join the family of demons, meet your actual brothers, and don’t let the fates win by breaking you this early.”

“You don’t want me there; you need me there.”

Lucifer lets out a tiny chuckle. Definitely, a Winchester, only those boys would look him straight in the face while insulting him without an ounce of fear in their faces. “Perhaps, I need you there, and that means that I don’t want you there. Or perhaps it means I have manipulated the fates themselves to get you and Dean Winchester on my side. Make no mistake, little Winchester, in another world, I let you say yes to my big brother. You suffer more than you ever thought possible until your fragile soul combusted.”

“Why would I believe you?” Adam turns to face him, the hidden traces of fear finally actually on his face.

“What reason do I have to lie?”

Adam stands up and paces around the room. The silence drives him up the wall, but he admits that Lucifer has nothing more to say until he’s made a decision. He could try to weather the storm on his own, but there is nothing left that he could get from doing this. Maybe the angels could reconnect him to his mother, but he’d be dead. “What would happen if I say yes?”

“I’d grab your arm and drag us both down to hell. I’d leave you in a semi-comfy room, and I’d leave for probably about an hour. I’d get my own skin back, while you sleep. Then we’d begin making you a demon, I’d bring your soul out in front of both of us. I’d ask you a series of questions, slipping darkness into your soul with each answer until you no longer had enough light to be considered human. Then, I’d imbue you with some power to make you into a demon,” he explains. He hasn’t done the process in a while. Not because he didn’t have the motivation, but because he didn’t want to deal with the sadness that seems to follow the newly turned. They always question themselves. 

Adam shakes where he stands, but he doesn’t start moving away from Lucifer. “Can you promise me that becoming a demon won’t change me?”

“That depends on what you mean by change. Of course, turning you into an immortal creature is going to have change. If you mean your morals, not really. They’ll still bet there; it will just be easier to ignore them. If you mean your personality, not at all.”

Adam takes a deep breath. If he chooses to trust the devil and gets screwed over in the process, he’ll never forgive himself. This will be an issue that will haunt him until his dying days, but if he says no and something worse happens that will be on him too. “I’ll come with you. I’ll trust you.”

Lucifer tilts his head to consider the younger Winchester boy. In another life, he’d rip this little boy apart. Tear him down at the edges and make him wonder whether mercy was ever an option. In this one, he feels something akin to sympathy for the child. He stands to walk over straight in front of Adam. “If you ever feel like I betrayed you, go to your brother. He’ll probably help you kill me for betraying the trust you place in me.”

“Which one?”

“My husband will be closer to you, but if you are scared, I may have corrupted him, you can run to Sam.”

Adam lets the tension fade from his body. Nothing matters in the grand scheme of things for him for the day. He takes the final step to place himself into Lucifer’s arms. 

Lucifer squeezes the young man’s arms. He leans over so his breath will be right above Adam’s ear. “Close your eyes.” He waits until his orders are followed before teleporting them both back home to hell. The first stop is a rather comfy room near his own chambers. “Open,” he commands.

Adam’s eyes blink open, and he sees the stone walls all around him. The lack of fire anywhere near him, and he comes to the conclusion that church lied to him. He steps inside the room to stare at the bed. He wonders whether he’ll finally get some sleep now that he isn’t alone.

“Sleep, little Winchester. I’ll need a better name for you at some point, but that can happen when we convert you to your inner darkness.”

Adam follows the hidden order without question. His body leaning him into the bed and his eyes slipping back closed. 

Lucifer waits until he’s pretty sure the human is asleep before closing the door. “Crowley,” he barks into the air. 

The demon appears seconds later in a half bow. “You called, my king.”

“Watch the boy. I need my body back, and I’m sure Dean would prefer his own as well.”

Crowley inclines his head. He’ll stand guard dog for yet another Winchester. At this point, it was becoming a habit in this universe along with the old one, but he will not complain. The path that they appear to be trying to walk on is much better for him overall then the future that Lucifer had told him. He is not a sacrificial lamb, he will not be a sacrificial lamb, this time they will fight God himself before they let the world try to convince them differently.

When Lucifer stalks off, Crowley realizes that he probably should have told the demon king that his husband was currently learning the tricks of the trade from the Prince of hell that killed his mother. Actually, he should have mentioned Ruby too. He should have just given a report. Too late now.


	15. The Interactions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chuck, the archangels, and Sam all open their letters. Minus Michael who is justifiably skeptical.

Bobby’s truck pitters down the road at the fastest pace he can manage. He doesn’t know why Dean wants to invite some abnormal author who appears to write about him and Sam to the wedding. Sure, maybe the dude was important. That seems like a distinctive option since apparently Dean’s new fiancé is capable of seeing the future. 

He pulls the truck to the side of the road. He doesn’t know whether he should ignore the demon and stick around after he delivers the letter or follow the demon’s advice to get as far away as possible. That cautionary piece of advice makes him think that the man he’s delivering a letter to isn’t just a human. 

The question was, did he want to risk getting killed in order to find out what secret the demon was hiding? That depends more on his trust in Dean, then it does on anything else. Dean seemed sincere enough when he was at their house, and they checked for anything non-human that could have been in his body. Trust was always a funny concept in the hunter world. Trusting folks tends to make sure that you end up dead.

In this case though, he’s not going to stick around to find out whether he shouldn’t trust Dean. Today, he’ll place his faith in the boy that he helped raise. If that turns out to have been the wrong call, he’ll try to fix his mistakes in the future. 

He walks up to the door keeping his eyes on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing seems to be amiss from the situation, so he kneels down and slips the letter under the door. He waits for like three seconds to be sure that the letter doesn’t come pushing back out. Then, he hightails back to the truck and starts driving. He doesn’t look backwards, and he certainly doesn’t turn the car around. The walk up to that house had put every nerve in his body on fire.

Chuck laughs as the man slides the wedding invitation under the door for the crazy author. Must be a relative of a fan who wanted to see if their favorite author would actually show up to the wedding. He couldn’t go without potentially revealing himself, but he could give them a blessing or something to give them credit for recognizing greatness. 

He picks up the letter and peels back the cover to reveal the card. Then, he sees the name. A guttural scream fills the house. How dare Lucifer decide to fuck with his beautiful plan? The universe path they were on was the best path. He got his sister’s love back, his troublesome sons took themselves out, and the Winchester’s bore all of his responsibility. That ungrateful little brat.

Still, it would not do to be the kind of god that did not at least continue reading the invitation, if only to gather more information. The lettering on the sheet brings his attention into full focus. ‘Dad, I know we don’t always get along. I know that we’ve had fights, and that choices on both sides have led to us not meeting in thousands of years, but I’m hoping this changes things. I found a man to love. I found a man who was willing to see the potential for goodness in me, and I want to try for him. We’re getting married. I was hoping that you’d come to the wedding, officiate it for us, and maybe afterwards we can try to mend the bridges that both of us lit on fire all those years ago. For immortals, nothing is closed forever. Love, Lucifer.’

Chuck wants to light the damn invitation on fire. The stupid angel doesn’t even realize how much he’s destroying of the plan. All Lucifer ever cared about is himself, this proves it. The angel didn’t even bother to check to see whether the future would be impacted by his hasty choices. Unfortunately, he couldn’t stop the wedding if Dean Winchester was in hell. He could get there just fine; his powers are not limited there. But he’d have to fight all of his son’s little demons and getting rid of all the worker bees doesn’t fix the problem either. At this point, he needs to figure out a way to correct the path once Dean and Lucifer are married. He won’t go to the wedding though. Maybe that will teach his son to pay attention to others for once in his life. 

While Chuck has a mental breakdown trying to figure out new ways to set off the chain of events that might lead to the future that he wants, both Michael and Rafael stare at the letters in their hands. They both know what they are, but neither wants to open the invitation first.

Michael sighs. “Why would he invite us? Why would he torment the younger angels who have always wanted the heavens reunited?”

Rafael regards Michael for a long moment. “Only one way to find out,” he says. Before he rips open the letter and pulls out the flaming heart. A good symbol for Lucifer and the righteous man. He flips his letter over and pauses. He hasn’t seen his brother’s handwriting in years. He hasn’t heard the characteristic drawl of his voice in almost as long. A tear falls from his eyes before he can even bring himself to make out the words. 

‘Hi, little brother. I know we haven’t tried to mend the bridge our father broke a long time ago. For almost an equally long time, I blamed all of you for not coming to see me, to save me. I don’t blame you anymore. I need you to know that just in case you’re willing to come. I’m terrible at feelings, Raf. I never did figure out how to express myself. I’m in love with a human, Dean Winchester, in fact. The fates really do hate my guts. I’m marrying him anyway. I invited dad, and I’m inviting you. I’m inviting all of my family. If there was ever time to mend bridges, it’s now. So, this is my olive branch. Come to my wedding, see me be happy, please. Love, Lucifer. P.S. If dad doesn’t show, could you officiate the wedding? It’d mean more to have it be an angel not a demon, even if both can.’

Rafael holds a hand up to his mouth to hold back the sobs threatening to fall out of him. His big brother had been waiting for them at the beginning. Back when Amara was just thrown in a cell, and they were all trying to figure out how to deal with the fact that their brother went on mass murdering sprees, and Lucifer waited for them. His head turns to the side to regard Michael with the unopened letter still in his hand. 

“What do you think?”

“I think that our brother is not the angel our father made him out to be. I think that he’s in love with Dean Winchester, and I think he’s trying to rebuild this family. I’m going to the wedding. And if he wants me to officiate the damn thing, I will bind them together with every oath that I know.”

Michael shakes his head in disbelief. “He’s a playing a game, Raf. He’s always playing a game. Even before we fought Amara, he was insane. He isn’t normal. But if you want to try, I won’t stop you.”

Rafael offers Michael a weak smile. He should have known that God’s hold on Michael is too tight to be pulled off by a simple attempt from Lucifer. “At least read it, his invitation to you. Just promise me that much.”

“Tell you what, little brother, I’ll promise to read the invitation, if you promise to keep your eyes peeled for a motive when you’re down there.”

Rafael nods, before leaving the room. He has stuff to pack and stuff to double check if he’s going to be going to hell soon. This could be the start of something better for all of them. This could be the moment that he convinces Lucifer to come home. Maybe, Dean Winchester could save the family they thought broken. He’ll thank the man for that when he meets him.

Michael stands in an empty room with a letter that he can’t burn. As much as he wants to light the thing on fire and let the ashes scatter, he promised his brother he’d read it. That doesn’t mean he has to read it now, but he can’t seem to let the letter go. This stupid letter means nothing to the grand scheme of the world. 

Father told him that Lucifer could not be trusted. That Lucifer was the start of all evil. That the reason humans fought wars, built bombs, and refused to save each other were because Lucifer put those thoughts in their head. He can’t possibly go celebrate his brother’s wedding.

He slips the letter into his breast pocket. He’ll read it at some point, after all he has eternity. But, he won’t read it today. Today, he’ll go try to convince most of the angels that they shouldn’t go to the wedding just in case the devil breaks his word. An oath said by an angel known for breaking promises means nothing. 

Heaven might be in chaos, and the timeline certainly hasn’t been solved by God, but baby stays on the road as Sammy guides her down the highways. Sam might not know why he’d going to give an invitation to the trickster god, but he’ll do his job. When he gets home, he’ll read Dean’s abysmal letter to him, and he’ll pack a bag for the wedding. 

There is no question of whether he will go to the wedding or not. He’ll always go where his brother asks him to go. Bobby might have concerns about whether Dean is in his right mind or not, but Sam knows the truth. Dean made a choice that might just be insane, but he’s happy with the choice that he’s made. 

He parks the car in the nearest parking lot to the location that this god is supposed to be in. Lord knows that if he gets a dent on baby now that Dean is back to the land of the possibly living, he’ll be in a whole world of hurt. The door slams shut behind him as he gets himself out of the car. He walks up the stairs of the apartment towards the room number that Crowley gave him. 

He raps his knuckles on the door before leaning against the hallway wall to wait. This week has been exhausting, and he’s confident that today isn’t going to be any less tiring. 

The door opens to reveal the trickster that had been torturing him earlier, and Sam’s breathes started coming out a little faster. This was not in his plans for the day. In all fairness, neither had been any of the possible options. 

“Heya, Sammy, right? Did you want me to start messing with your brain again? Because I will. I’m extremely good at it, and I’d never deny someone something they ask for.”

Sam gulps down his immediate response, which was to remind him that they came close to killing him once. They could figure it out this time. “My brother wants to invite you to his wedding for some unknown reason.”

“Who’s he marrying?”

“Why does that matter?”

Gabriel turns to give Sam an incredulous look with his eyes rolling. Seriously, the boy could be so smart sometimes, then turn around and say the dumbest things. “Because I agree that your brother inviting me would in fact be ridiculous, which means my natural assumption would be that whoever Dean is marrying is the one that wants me at the wedding.”

Sam shrugs. “I mean that seems even odder to me, since he’s marrying the bloody devil.”

Gabriel sputters dropping the act of not caring. “Lucifer’s getting married. Get inside, quickly. I’m going to catch you up on at least one thing before I demand whatever invitation you have for me. You’ve opened yours, right?” He pushes the door farther open as he backs up into the safety of his apartment. Today was either going to be one of the greatest days in his existence or one of the saddest. He can’t tell yet.

“No. My letter is back home. I didn’t want to risk being emotional before dealing with whoever he sent me after to invite. I’m still too cautious for my own good,” Sam replies, stepping into the apartment with the door swinging closed behind him. 

Gabriel snaps his fingers, and Sam’s letter floats into his hand. He shoves it over quickly not even asking for his letter. “Are you ready to handle a small story before we read the letters? Because if you aren’t, that’ll be alright. I can wait to explain some stuff to you.”

“Go ahead. Can’t be any more difficult than when my supposedly dead brother walked into my house to declare that he’s decided to marry the devil,” Sam points out. The fact that his level has shifted to where that is a semi-normal thing, he can say promises that he’ll never be able to go back to a simple life as a lawyer. 

“I lied to you. I am not a trickster demon or god or whatever other thing you want to put behind trickster. I am an archangel of the lord. When God cast my brother down to hell, I wanted nothing to do with heaven, so I came here and hid. Lucifer is my big brother. I’m invited to this wedding for the same reason that you are. We’re the siblings of the people getting married.”

Sam blinks a couple times before slipping down onto the couch. “Why? Why can’t I have a normal life?”

“Do you want an honest answer?” The kid deserves that much. If he wants the answer to why everything constantly seems to be against him, that’s the least he could give the boy. 

Sam nods. Maybe for once he’ll get an answer that doesn’t lead to a hundred different questions. Maybe he’ll be satisfied for a moment. That’d be nice. That’d be a miracle. 

“Your mother made a deal with a demon so that you even had a chance to be born. Then, once you were born the deal came true, they fed you demon’s blood to ensure that your soul would have enough darkness that you could potentially say yes to the devil. Not to mention that in every universe that has ever existed on the plane where God left, you and Dean are what keeps the humans alive,” he explains. 

Sammy chokes out a gasp as he realizes that three separate people have now told him that his mother is the one that did this to him. He idealized her. He loved the stories that Dean and dad had told him, but this woman, she had sent him down this path.

“The truth hurts, kid. The truth hurts like a bitch, most of the time. That being said, we always seem to go hunting for it anyway.”

“Couldn’t we just have a simple family? Can’t we all just love each other?” Sam almost wants to beg the man, angel, to lie if the answer was no.

“Seems to me that Lucifer and Dean are taking the first step to try to end up with a family situation that’s based on love. I have no idea whether it will work, but that’s more than anyone else,” Gabriel offers.

Sam chokes out a laugh as he stares at the letter sitting in his lap. He digs out the matching envelope over to the trickster. Then, he glances up. “If you aren’t a trickster god, your name isn’t Loki. It’s either Rafael, Michael, or Gabriel.”

“I’ll give you a hint, I’m not a stick in the mud or logical.”

“Gabriel,” he guesses. He might get smited for getting this wrong, but he can’t really control whether or not he’ll get smoked before the end of the day. That’s up to those that he deals with. He’s in over his head, and it looks like he’s not going to get out of that situation.

Gabriel nods to the kid. He can tell the surface thoughts of Sam Winchester, and almost wants to reach over to tell him that he won’t let anyone hurt him more than he deserves. But he can’t because some of the pain that he feels is directly due to choices that Gabriel made a long time ago. Instead, he rips open his letter to pull out the invitation.

The flaming heart causes him to burst out laughing. He doesn’t care if Sam sees his different reactions to what his brother wrote. If he doesn’t tell Sam why, he’ll never figure it out. The situation too complicated for even him to figure out all of the different layers of emotions that went into the family at this point. 

Sam slowly opens his too. He’s expecting it to be a white piece of printer paper honestly. Dean wouldn’t want to waste supplies, but there in his hands is the same flaming heart. He wouldn’t have thought he’d rank the same as the archangels, but he supposes that if Gabriel was right, then he was on the same level of connection to the betrothed. 

The handwriting on the back could only be labeled as Dean’s with a messy scrawl. The ink was far to fancy to have been his though, which tells Sam that they were writing these together. Maybe they were trying to be a couple after all. ‘Hey, Sammy. I’ve already told you about everything. About how I’m marrying the devil, so that I can save us from a world where we’re constantly in pain. So, that maybe God doesn’t get to torture his own children with fates that are worse than death. But at the end of the day, I’m still getting married. I can’t have dad there to tell me that he’s proud of me. I can’t have mom there to tell me that she loves me. But I can have you. I’d be honored if you’d be my best man, and if you could pretend for at least the day that I’m getting married for love.’

Sam puts the letter down to stare at Gabriel who hasn’t flipped his over yet. “Why wait for me?” he asks. 

“I wanted to see your reaction. I wanted to know that you wouldn’t judge me if I end up breaking down because of what my brother wrote me after years of silence on both sides.”

“I won’t judge. Although, if you do decide to respond to the letter can you include a message from me that says yes to Dean. I don’t know how to get a message to hell.”

Gabriel laughs. Of course, the little Winchester wouldn’t know how to get a response to his brother. He’s sure that Dean will remedy that situation the second he’s made aware of it. That’s the glory of being one of the kings of hell. You get to make the rules.

He flips over his letter and starts reading the words in his brother’s flowing stylized writing. ‘Gabriel, my little brother, it has been way too long since we tried to converse. I thought I’d blame you for not coming for me. You always were the one who tried to see things my way. The only one who still said they loved me. I don’t blame you, though. The world is dark, and father is cruel. What’s new? I could tell you the same lie, I’m telling our brother. The same lie, I’m telling our father. But, then nothing between us would ever change. You would find out. You will always find out when I’m telling lies. I looked into the future. The two of us may be the only angels left that actually bother making sure that the future isn’t horrible after we take action. The world where I follow dad’s plan and try to start an apocalypse. That isn’t a world where I want to live, and I don’t want that much suffering to come to any of our family. Especially not you, little brother. I’m marrying Dean Winchester to change the way the world works. You can try to stop me if you like, but I’d prefer if you came to the wedding to show that you support me. You’ll always be my best man, regardless of whether you’re here or not. Love, Lucifer’

Gabriel pauses crumbling the paper up in his fist. Of all the words that Lucifer could have chosen, those were the worst. This whole thing was a sham. Everything that damn angel did was a scam. He’d even sent a human to make sure he didn’t try to burn through to hell immediately. 

“You seem extremely angry, Gabriel.”

“They’re lying,” he grits out of his teeth. Damn his brother for knowing that he wouldn’t drag the boy down with him into hell to start a fight.

“I suppose. I mean they are getting married, and while they’re exaggerating the love, it isn’t a complete lie. I read my brother’s words. He’s hoping he can delude himself into thinking this is a normal wedding, but we know the truth. That this wasn’t a match born of love but out of necessity. Yet, he told you the truth. That’s an act of trust.”

“What? This is manipulation,” Gabriel snaps. How dare the child try to tell him this was something similar to trust? This was the opposite of trust.

“Is it? I mean on the rest of your family sure, but no offense, but telling God the truth seems like a splendid way for us all to end up dead before we even have a chance to try to fix it. They told you the truth. If you think he’s lying, can’t you do the whole future thing too?”

Gabriel pauses. That’s a valid statement. He could just look, not for a long period of time, but just far enough to see what happens if they played out the roles that their father wanted. So, he looks. Seconds later he has tears rolling down his face clutching at the wall to hold him upright.

“That bad?” Sam asks. Dean told him that it was bad, but he didn’t think bad meant driving an archangel to tears. That would need to be one hell of a situation before it got that far in the world.   
“Worse. So much worse than whatever you’re thinking. You think the family is dysfunctional now? Mine and yours. In that future, it got worse. It got so much worse. I’m going to help them. I’m going to hell right now. Maybe that will get a reaction of some sort from one of them,” he announces.

Sam grabs his arm at the last second. He never thought that he’d even try something this crazy, but he wants to give his brother the support he deserves. “Will you carry my message?”

Gabriel tugs his arm out of Sam’s grasp. What is with the Winchesters and not having a single strand of self-preservation instinct? He gives the boy a nod before popping out the realm. That much he can swear without much hassle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day. That's how you know no homework is getting done, also because it is literally 9 degrees out and all I want is to cuddle under some blankets with some tea.


	16. The Meeting of the Fiance's family #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean meets one of Lucifer's brothers. That's a fun time. Also there is a bit of realization at the end of the chapter.

Dean hears Lucifer’s footsteps long before he nears the room. After touring hell with Azazel, he did come back to the room. With Azazel’s assurances that it wouldn’t be too odd. Not out of place with the rest of most everything that he had tried to do. To be honest, he made a rotten Lucifer. He’s not cut out to be the most intimidating man in the realm. He’ll settle with second best. 

“Will you be alright if I enter in your body? I know that it was quite odd for you earlier to have to deal with such things,” he calls from outside the door.

“Come in, Lucifer.” Dean appreciates the care that the question echoes, but he’s no damsel in distress. He doesn’t need protection from the things that drive him a little closer to insanity. Before the end of all of this, he’s confident that he’s going to end up a blubbering mess along with all the rest of them, but he’s rather positive that he’ll do that in both timelines. 

Lucifer enters the room. He doesn’t bother reading the expressions on Dean’s face to try to see whether he’s getting more used to the fact that his fiancé is currently wearing his body. “Your bother is currently resting in a room. I’ll work on the turning him into a demon portion after we switch bodies, and you catch me up on anything pertinent.”

Dean pats next to him on the bed and waits until Lucifer is next to him. “Switch us first, please.”

Lucifer leans over and places a hand over Dean’s eyes. No need to require that he close them this time, when he’s this close. He lets the souls push and pull at each other for their own body back until he can only see darkness. The hand covering his eyes moves quickly. 

Dean grins the moment he realizes that he’s back in his own skin. The balance no longer feels alien to him. Then, he realizes that his hand is covering Lucifer’s eyes and he withdraws immediately. He shouldn’t have waited.

“Don’t worry about it Dean. I’m the one who covered them in the first place. I knew that this would be the end result.” Honestly, his human might be a dumbass at times. Why would that anger him or perhaps he was just sill nervous about pissing anyone off? Maybe he should goad Dean into an argument to prove that even if they disagree, he won’t harm him. 

“I may have made a decree under your name today,” Dean blurts out. Not precisely his planned way to start the conversation, but his brain doesn’t always follow what he tells it to do.  
Lucifer raises his eyes to the ceiling. He could pretend to be angry, but that won’t actually help matters at all. He can’t even figure out where the root of this problem is, so how is he supposed to fix this. “Good. You were in charge, and you have the power to make decrees even when you aren’t pretending to be me.”

“It was a punishment. Ruby is kneeling in the court room until one of us goes to get her or until court is held next. Whichever comes first.”

Lucifer pauses to consider Dean. If the confession was born of guilt where he’s practically begging Lucifer to be angry and punish him, that needed to be a different type of conversation. A drastically different type of conversation. However, it could be born out of a lack of confidence. That he could try to assuage without breaking the few moral guidelines that he does follow. “Good job, she needed to be punished. Honestly, she needs to be punished every other time she opens her mouth. She’s loyal, but she’s an idiot.”

That response startles a laugh out of Dean. Lucifer won’t hate him for making decisions, and he gets just an inkling of praise that he really needs at times like this, because he has no clue what he’s doing. “Thank you.”

Lucifer rolls his eyes and decides to push his luck just a little bit. He wraps his arm around Dean’s shoulders and tugs him close. “What on Earth are you thanking me for?”

Dean leans his head on the shoulder that he’s been tugged to. Comfort seems to be nice for both of them. Maybe by the end of this they’ll be closer to a couple than they’re currently pretending to be. “Saying I did a good job.”

“If I could add a year of torture to what we gave your father for every time I find out one of the insecurities he left, he’d never leave hell,” he comments. He notices the body stiffen in his arm, and he knows that Dean still hasn’t admitted to himself where these issues stem from.

“Why do you think that my father has anything to do with this?” His haunches are drawn and he’s ready to bolt from the room if he needs to. His father was a good man.

“Being a good man doesn’t mean that he was a good parent. And his parenting is what hurt you and Sam. Dean, please be honest with me here. Can you tell me to my face that the reason that you don’t think you’re good enough isn’t because of him? Can you tell me that your father isn’t the reason that you have issues with being with men?” 

Dean wants to lie or flee or do anything but look at Lucifer dead in the eyes and tell him the truth. But he hates the idea of starting off this relationship with lies. He turns to look into the red eyes above him. “You know the answer, but if you need me to say it. No. No to both.”

Lucifer softens his eyes to try to show that he cares. “I know, but you need to too. You can change too, you can grow beyond what he wanted you to be.”

“Pretty sure that I strayed from his path the second I said yes to you.” His eyes still don’t leave Lucifer’s. Normally, after his emotions run high, he’ll find a girl to go home with. He doesn’t need a girl if he has a fiancé. As he leans in, a large bang draws both of their heads to stare.

Dean blinks as the face that he’s learned was Gabriel from Lucifer’s conversations. Even if he wanted to come to the wedding, he probably wouldn’t immediately jump all the way into hell to tell them both. That seems like a rather large over reaction to the situation. 

“Gabriel?” Lucifer’s voice seems calm to the outsider, but those that know him could hear the slight tremor in his normal tone. 

Gabriel partially wants to hit the angel and partially wants to hug him. The hug won out in the end because he hasn’t seen his brother in years. Surely, he deserves to just ignore half of the requirements that others have given him. He takes another step and wraps his arms around his brother burying his head in his brother’s chest. 

Lucifer’s arms respond on a natural level. He runs his hands up and down. “This mean I’m forgiven.”

“If you forgive me, I’ll forgive you. We’ll bury the history under the new life we’ll live.”

Lucifer nods, before realizing that Gabriel can’t see him because he’s buried his head in his chest and doesn’t appear to be willing to move anytime in the near future. “As I said in my letter, I forgave you a long time ago, when I realized that if any of you had chosen to investigate what really happened, dad would have hurt you too,” he replies. 

Dean stares at the brothers with a smile on his face. He had been slightly worried that his family was going to be the only ones on their side, but here was Gabe. “God’s a dick. Can we kill him?”  
Gabriel lets out a laugh. Seriously, Winchester’s and their damned self-righteousness, that is so deserved. “Not without destroying the universe.”

“Not without Aunt Amara,” Lucifer says at the same time.

Gabriel pauses turning to stare at Lucifer. “Alright. I didn’t pay much attention to individual portions of the future, but why would you ever still call her aunt?”

“Because she’s family. Both her and dad are still family, so I’ll still give her the title that she deserves. Also, because I’m pretty sure that she’s not what dad made her out to be. I’m confident that dad used me as a weapon against someone who loved me enough, not to fight me.”

Gabriel raises his eyebrow as he pulls back so he can see both Dean and Lucifer. “At the risk of being an idiot, what part of that fight makes you think she wasn’t fighting back against us? I seem to recall quite a few broken bones, and you going on a murder spree.”

Dean raises his head. “I know the second portion of that. The murder spree was because of the mark that God gave Lucifer to keep Amara locked up. The price was paid because of God’s choices, not Amara’s.”

Lucifer reaches over to grab Dean’s hand and start playing with his fingers. He can’t believe that his fiancé is willing to defend him even when he doesn’t know how to start defending myself. “We’re alive. That’s more than we should be if she was actually fighting us.”

“That means we need to make amends. I know you don’t like the idea of admitting faults, but if she’s imprisoned because she loved us enough not to kill us, then we have to beg for forgiveness.”

Dean snorts. He knows full well that’s been in Lucifer’s plan since the beginning. He doesn’t know where in the timeline that will factor in, but he knows that at some point he’s going to stand in between his husband and the sister of God, and he’s going to beg her to forgive him for actions he can’t even begin to explain.

Distantly, he wonders what makes this different than love. Sure, they’re not doing this in the traditional path. In fact, they’ve thrown out just about every shred of normalcy that they could have even come close to having. If he’s willing to fight God for him, if he’s willing to fight Amara for him, he’s in love with the angel. Shit, he’s in love with the angel.

Gabriel’s eyes snap over to Dean’s. He can feel the rising panic and has no idea what just triggered the poor man, but he doesn’t need to deal with the basics of a plan and a panicked Winchester. That’s too many things to balance all at once. “Dean, I was told to give you a message.”

“What message?”

“From your brother. I told him to open his invitation at the same time I opened mine, because in a wedding like this we’re on equal footing when it comes to why we’re being invited. He read your letter and told me to tell you yes.”

Dean squeezes his eyes shut as he rocks himself back and forward. His brother said yes to being his best man. That’s all he needs. Well, that and someone to go talk to about these emotions. He should probably go find Crowley.

Lucifer glances over at Dean. He tries really hard not to look into the man’s head because that’s a betrayal of trust that Dean doesn’t deserve. Not with how he’s trying to make this marriage work. No lies, few to no secrets. They’re really trying to be able to build love from this crazy show. That’s good, that gives him a chance to win over the man. 

Dean smiles at the brother’s as he opens his eyes. “That’s great news. Looks like both of us will have our best men, unless Gabriel showed up to reject you.”

“I’m not that rude, Dean. I’ll kill you hundreds of time to mess with your brother, but I won’t lie to my own brother.”

“Don’t remind me of the time you killed me more times than my brain can process. I can’t handle trying to remember that day. We’re going to be family now too, so you don’t have an excuse to be this rude.”

Lucifer laughs. “No killing my fiancé, Gabriel.”

“I guess I’ll refrain if you’re asking so nicely,” he teases.

Dean shakes his head. The angel wouldn't be able to kill him here in hell, Azazel would buy him enough time to run. Still, he needs to understand what's going to happen with the angels presence. “Are you staying?”

“Until the wedding at least. Now that I’m in on the plan, we can actually do some planning. Because between you and my brother, I’m sure that absolutely zero plans were actually made at any point.”

Dean pushes himself up off the bed. “Then, I’ll leave you two to catch up, and I’ll take care of the arrangements of having a second angel in hell.” He walks out of the door before Lucifer can call after him. He doesn’t need to try to hide his inner thoughts for that long without even admitting them to himself.


	17. The Plan of Archangels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel and Lucifer talk about their past, their plans, and one Dean Winchester.

Lucifer glances at the door that Dean left in confusion. He seemed happy for them for a long time, so why did he leave the room like he would catch on fire if he stayed for more than a second more?

“Don’t worry about, brother. Dean Winchester will tell you in his own time what set him off today, but he probably doesn’t want me to know whatever it was.”

Lucifer blinks. “You don’t think he trusts you.”

Gabriel gives his oldest brother the most exasperated expression that he could manage. Even Lucifer couldn’t be this stupid. “Lucifer, I’ve killed the man on many occasions. I wouldn’t trust me. You trust me, and I trust you. I’ll figure out how to apologize to both Winchester’s in a way that will get them to be willing to trust me, but it will take more time than a single conversation. Especially a conversation, where both of us were extremely emotional as we finally meet each other after multiple centuries.”

Lucifer nods. He had forgotten about his brother’s little torture section of the storyline. It wasn’t really torture, not on the scale that people like Lucifer are used to, but even still this wasn’t the greatest beginning. 

Gabriel stares at his brother for a moment. “Mind if I ask you a more personal question?”

“Ask what you will. We’ve been apart for long enough that I won’t mind you asking stupid questions about anything today. That might change, but out of all of our family, you were the one that never really made me angry at any point.”

“Why Dean Winchester? If you wanted to change the path to the future, you could have just gone to release Amara on your own whilst pretending to try to convert Sam. If you wanted someone who could love you, you could have chosen someone who didn’t have bad blood with most of your kingdom.” This thought had been weighing on Gabriel ever since he learned the truth behind the wedding. None of this makes sense.

“While I was looking at the future, Dean gained my respect. The world broke him, truly broke him, like dad broke me, but instead of becoming bitter like I did, he just stood back up and went back to work. When he found out the whole truth from Amara, he the hate he had for me, just lifted. Sure, he might not have liked me, and when I crossed a line, he did stop me, but there was no hatred. It was just a job. This was just another task that he needed to get done. I wanted to protect him from being that kind of cold. I wanted to be able to release myself by saving him.”

Gabriel blinks. Out of all the answers that he expected Lucifer to give him, that wasn’t one of them. That wasn’t the answer someone gave about a human they’re marrying for the sake of convenience. That’s the answer someone gives when they’re in love with someone. He wonders if his brother even knows that’s what this is. 

Lucifer tosses a look over his shoulder at Gabe and sees the calculating look on his face. “You’re thinking something that you don’t know if I’ll want to know. Just tell me. Secrets destroyed this family the first time, let’s not make the same mistakes twice.”

“That sounded like love. The reason you gave for Dean was love,” Gabriel admits. 

“I can’t love somebody who doesn’t exist. I may have fallen for the man Dean became, but not the Dean that exists. I’m certainly getting there though. This Dean Winchester is something else. He offered me his family in case none of you came.”

Gabriel scoffs. “The only one who might not come is Michael, and even he’s likely to make a different choice if given the opportunity. We loved you, Lucifer. We still love you, because immortality does not make the love, we shared any less real. In fact, I would argue that it made us happier to love you even when we were told to hate you.”

“That mean you’re in for the long haul. Help me get married, reform hell, stage a jail break for Aunt Amara, and end dad’s endless reign of no counterbalance?” Lucifer asks. Once upon a time he wouldn’t have asked. He’s have assumed that Gabriel still sitting next to him meant that he was willing to follow his big brother right to the end of the world, but time had split that assumption in half.

“Let’s start with a basic plan for the last three because the first one we have a solid plan for. The rest I don’t think you’ve even started thinking about.”

“Technically I have agreed with the one demon who knows everything that before we start pushing reforms onto hell, we need to have Dean be not quite as human.”

“Small mercies that you’ve had that much common sense, but how are we going to make Dean less human and more supernatural? I doubt he’ll let us convert him into a demon. We can’t make him an angel without Amara or dad, both of whom will not be pleased with that situation at the start. Most monsters are out for the same reasons.” Gabriel wonders whether his brother has even paused to consider that Dean might not want to be more than human. The Dean from the future would have thrown an entire fit at simply the idea of being something above human. What changes with this one?

“I was thinking we could ask him to take the mark of Cain. I know now how to battle the effects of the curse. I didn’t when I first got the mark, as noted by my lovely mass murdering stages, but I learned down here alone, what stuff would silence the urges. I can teach him, and he’d be more powerful than almost everything that exists. He’d be stronger than the princes of hell, he’d be on the same par with you and me.” His brother might even be able to piece together which part of the story comes next. 

“And when we need to destroy the mark in order to free Auntie, we’ll know exactly where it is, and how he’ll react when we ask him to allow us to destroy it. Two birds, one stone, and a good helping of pissing of the god that created us all.”

Lucifer grins over at his brother. “He shouldn’t have left me here to consider all the things he’s ever done. He should have known that eventually one of us was going to figure out he’s lying about Amara.”

Gabriel pats Lucifer on the shoulder. “God’s greatest weakness is believing that the angels do not have the same gut reaction to family that humans do. We are family, which means that we love each other. Despite all the evil things we do, despite the sides of a war we were thrown on, despite each and every time Michael gets on that huge high horse of his, we love each other.”

“And of the two immortal ancient beings who made the archangels, only one of them loves us, and it is not our father.”

Gabriel leans over and kisses Lucifer’s cheek. “You should tell him that you could love him before you get married. He deserves to know that there is a chance he could get both protection and love from you.”

Lucifer shakes his head. “I won’t make that choice for him. If he wants more than he needs to be the one to initiate it, because otherwise I’ll never know whether I pressured him or not. I’m no good with understanding how that portion of a relationship works.”

Gabriel just stands up. “I’m going to steal a room. Just think about what I said. Please.”

“I’ll consider it,” Lucifer says, waving his hand to convince his brother to leave him alone. Secrets don’t need to be kept, but he doesn’t consider this a secret. He needs to admit to himself that he loves Dean Winchester before he can try to tell others that he’s in love with the fiancé, he’s already supposed to be in love with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys, the chapters might be a little slower for a while. I'm dealing with some personal issues at the moment. Thanks for understanding.


	18. The Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean goes to find Crowley and get advice for those pesky emotions. Adam pops in, because he was there. Gabriel eavesdrops because it's the trickster angel

Dean moves through the hallways with a familiarity that he should not have. He did not think he would get to the stage where he’d know hell better than he remembers the house he was born in. He was four when they left that house, and while he’s spent less time here than there, he also has more memories here than he may ever have in that house. He follows the trail of Crowley’s magic to a doorway. 

“King Dean to what do I owe the pleasure?” Crowley asks. The door is practically soundproof. Unless, the human was leaning on the door to catch a glimpse of a conversation, Adam would not hear them speak. 

“I need someone who knows what the hell we’re doing, but who isn’t my fiancé to talk to, and my brother and Bobby are not yet in hell yet. That leaves you, and perhaps Lucifer’s angel brother who showed up, but I don’t trust the angel.”

Crowley blinks. The hidden meaning behind that statement implies that Dean trusts him. That seems like dangerous thing to admit, let alone act on. That won’t stop him from allowing the man to talk to him. Maybe, he’d prove that he’s worthy of trust. Maybe, he’ll turn on Dean to win favor with Lucifer. These things are fluid to him. He needs no human compassion. Survival is all that he cares about. 

“Are you willing to listen, or do I need to go back to my bedroom and beg my fiancé to take me to my brother for a moment?”

“You seem almost panicked, Dean. Are you sure that you actually want to tell me whatever secret is currently weighing on you?”

Dean growls low in his throat at the demon. If he didn’t want to tell the secret, he’d just bury it. He’s done that for years about little and big things. “Who are you guarding?”

“Your little brother. No idea what Lucifer told him, but he seems pretty calm for being dragged into hell.”

“Neither do I. We didn’t get that far in our conversation before Gabriel crashed the party. Granted, I have to thank the angel for providing me a distraction before I panicked in front of Lucifer,” Dean says. 

Silence follows that declaration. Dean knows that Crowley is waiting for him to tell him what’s wrong. But Dean doesn’t know how to make the words come out of his mouth. He doesn’t know why these thoughts have been plaguing him. His life could be much easier if he just let the tension fade away. 

Crowley steps away from his post and lays a hand on Dean’s shoulder. Just the weight of the hand seems to calm him. He wonders which one of Dean’s fears could have come into play to cause him to hide in his own skin again. 

“I’m in love.”

“Oh, well shit. I mean Lucifer probably won’t mind if you’re in love with someone else, but he’s possessive, so he probably won’t let you see them. That could cause a fight if you push for it. This isn’t great, but it isn’t the end of the world,” Crowley rambles. He has no idea how he’s going to avoid the anger that will build up after this comes out, but he’s always been good at hiding from things that bother him. This will be no different. He’ll jut have to fight a little bit harder to keep himself on neutral ground. 

“I’m in love with Lucifer. Not someone else. I could claim I once loved someone else, and it wouldn’t be a lie, but I destroyed that back before dad died.”

Crowley closes his eyes to fight back the instinct to slap the man senseless. What on Earth could be the problem with actually loving the person that you’re going to be married? Except for the fact that most myths suggest that Lucifer can’t love. How can he test that theory?

“I know that’s not the same as the problem you thought I was going through, but still. Lucifer made it clear that this was a marriage made for power and to change the future. We’ll build a family, and we’ll fight together, but we aren’t going to be the couple that loves each other.”

Crowley opens his eyes to take in the distress in Dean’s eyes. A part of him wants to leave his post to go find Lucifer and demand that he fix this immediately, the larger part of him wants to go run and hide. He should have seen these problems coming if he was going to actually try to be friends with both the devil and his future husband. 

“I should just hide this from him, right?”

“Not if you value your life. You promised him no secrets. You can keep this to yourself for a small period of time and be able to claim that you needed to gather your courage first. He’ll accept that if you tell him before the wedding. If you wait, then you broke your word, and he’ll never trust you again,” Crowley snaps. He doesn’t mean to hurt the man, but Dean has to know that this is a terrible plan. This will end with them getting extremely hurt because Lucifer will take his anger out on the other demon who knew.

“You’re right, but how do I try to breach this conversation? I’ve never told a girl I loved her, let alone an archangel that I’m getting married to.”

Hidden behind a column down the hall, Gabriel fights back the sigh that wants to escape him. His theory was correct. Both his brother and the oldest Winchester were in love with the other. That should have been clear to them by now. He would interfere, but he values the family they’re going to build enough to stay out. He just needs to know.

“Go to him. Go to Lucifer, tell him that you need to tell him something important. Tell him that you love him. Tell him that you don’t want just a political power filled marriage.”

“You could also try flirting,” Adam pipes up as he opens the door.

Dean turns his head to stare at the little brother that he never knew he had with shock. “How much did you hear?”

“All of it. You weren’t quiet, and the door wasn’t closed. Lucifer wanted Crowley to be able to get in, in the case of an emergency.”

Dean bangs his head against the nearest wall. “You will not utter a single word of this to Lucifer.”

“Nope, but you don’t seem like the kind of person to sit down and have a heart to heart with anyone especially Lucifer. He seems too intense for a conversation of this magnitude. So, use a different love language. You express yourself by actions.”

Dean tilts his head to the side. “You think if I treat him like I would if I was marrying a proper girl back on earth, that will get the message across.”

Crowley almost rips his hair out. Of course, the two humans would think this was the perfect solution to save them. He knows better. Lucifer won’t believe someone loves him without hearing the words and even, then he’ll need to hear them multiple times. This is not going to end well.

Adam nods. “Precisely. You can start leaving those lingering touches, giving him more attention, pressing kisses against his skin. He’ll catch on quickly.”

Crowley relaxes after a second though. Yes, Dean won’t succeed with the current plan, but he’ll succeed because of Adam none the less. The little Winchester needs to be made into a demon. Lucifer will see the truth in his mind and demand answers from Dean, then the rest of them can finally find some peace. 

Dean nods. This is a plan he can follow easily. Plus, based on the fact that he cannot feel Azazel anywhere in the area, he suspects that at some point, he’ll be able to propose to the angel. Even if Lucifer doesn’t understand why it matters to Dean, he’ll wear the ring. The angel tries really hard to make sure that he’s comfortable at every given moment. 

The new plan on his part is simple. Convince the devil to love him. Of all of the plans that he’s had to come up with since being dragged into hell, this is by far the easiest. He could manage to get the devil to love him back. He’s already admitted that he cares enough for Dean not to kill either of his brothers despite the fact doing so would make his life harder.

Dean turns his head to the side, ignoring both the demon and brother in front of him, to try to analyze that as anything other than deep emotional connection. He didn’t kill the brother, in fact that brother is standing in front of him at this very moment where Lucifer brought him. He didn’t even hurt his brother based on the current information that he has. He offered to let Sammy go back to being a lawyer. He didn’t even hesitate with that one. 

“Crowley, you’ve known Lucifer for a long time.”

Crowley nods. “Aye, most demons here have known him for an extremely long period of time. Time down here passes more quickly than it does up there, so for us it feels like years instead of months. Why?”

“Have you ever seen him willing go against the easiest course of action for anyone?”

That at the very least was an intelligent question. It might even allow Dean a bit of leeway when he pieces together the rest of the puzzle. Crowley doesn’t know how long that will take and how long he’ll have to suffer watching Dean try to convince Lucifer with actions that he loves them, when no amount of actions will solve the problem of Lucifer not believing that any creature can love him. “Not since the fall. I’ve heard stories of the things he used to do for his brothers, though. The ones that he still loves enough to send specialized invitations to a wedding with a human.”  
“You think that means something,” Dean questions. A smile spreading across his face as he considers the possibility that Crowley has seen the same compassion.

Gabriel wants to scream at the idiot from his hiding place. Of course, it means something. It means that his older brother is head over heels in love with him, and currently denying the fact to himself, let alone everyone else. Lucifer didn’t just help people. He didn’t just make sure that the actions wouldn’t bring him any harm. That’s not how his brain was wired. That’s not how he works. If he hadn’t been looking for signs in Lucifer that this wasn’t just another way to piss of God, he wouldn’t know. Good thing that he knew his brother well enough to know that Dean Winchester was the love that he’d been waiting for since birth. 

Crowley meets Dean’s eyes, trying to decide just how much to tell him. At the end of the day he can’t be the one to convince Dean that Lucifer loved him already. “Yes, it means something.”

Dean claps Crowley on the shoulder and turns to grin at his brother. “Bet you never thought you’d see the day?”

“See the day that one of my big brother’s, who I never thought I’d meet, has fallen in love with the devil, who is somehow actually real. Yeah, I definitely didn’t see this one coming.”

Gabriel debates just making his presence known and announcing for the good of both parties that they loved each other, but neither of them would thank him for it. Both might attack him for it. No, he’ll bide his time and just give input when it is asked. Lucifer would come to him more often, but he’s confident that eventually Dean will come to him for information as well. With that he turns to go find a room to place his stuff down. 

Dean turns and starts walking down the hallway. “I’m going to go back to Lucifer and figure out what the next step for us is,” he calls as he continues walking through the pathways. Maybe in the future that him and Lucifer were creating he could finally bring himself to express feelings without also immediately wanting to scream ‘no chick flick moments.’


	19. The Discussion #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They talk. Not about the things we want them to talk about, but they're talking at least.

Lucifer lays down on the bed and stares at the ceiling. He has at least one person from his family on his side. That would be enough, although he’d prefer if Dean wasn’t terrified of the man. He’s not sure how he could accomplish stopping him from disliking the angel who killed him a good hundred times. He could ask about it though. Not sure when since Dean seems to have run away for the moment. 

Dean pushes open the door and smiles at the monarch laying in their bed. “I didn’t know if you’d still be here, when I got back.”

Lucifer glances up at Dean. He can’t tell if that was a guarded way of saying he’d prefer to be alone or not. The other option was even more absurd because surely the human didn’t want him there. He might have gotten used to sleeping with the human, but that was completely unreasonable. He doesn’t even need sleep, the act is just pleasurable in its own way. “I can leave,” he offers.

Dean furrows his brow but jumps up next to Lucifer anyway. He tucks his head into the juncture between Lucifer’s neck and shoulder. “Why would you do that?”

Lucifer manages to hide the initial flinch at the contact before rolling his eyes. The human is probably touch starved after being tortured for so long. He’d go to people other than Lucifer, if he had the chance. This was just the easiest option for him at the moment. Plus, Lucifer wouldn’t mind keeping the human close by any means.

Dean jerks his head back to stare at Lucifer. “I want you here. This is our bedroom, this is our place. This should be a safe haven for both of us, even with the other inside. Actually, especially with the other inside because we should be on each other’s side.”

“You’re going to be on my side no matter what happens, then Dean Winchester?” Lucifer can’t believe the human would make such a blanket statement. That seems to defy all kinds of logic. 

“As long as you aren’t actively trying to start a genocide or hurting the people I love, yes. I will be on your side no matter what.” Dean drops his head back into the nice space on Lucifer and ignores the weight of his statement.

Lucifer’s eyes widen as his breaths come in shorter waves. What on Earth is the damned human doing? He’s not to be trusted. He’s relatively positive not even Gabriel truly trusts him. He’s willing to try to mend fences, but trust has to be rebuilt. Why does this human not care?

Dean notices the increased breath on his neck, and he debates dragging the emotions out into the open. Then, he comes to the realization that he’d hate being forced to admit anything of the sort. He’ll let Lucifer tell him emotions on his own time. Omission isn’t the same as a lie. Not in his eyes anyway. 

“Even if I asked you to forgive Gabriel, since he’s willing to try to patch things up with me. I don’t want there to be tension in a family that we’re just barely starting up. I don’t know if I could handle it, Dean. I just don’t.”

Dean pauses as he tries to figure out why Lucifer thinks he has a problem with Gabriel, then he recalls the way he kind of ran out of the room in a flash of speed. “I don’t need to forgive Gabriel. I’m not all that angry at him. He wasn’t really messing with me, but Sammy. You might have to convince Sammy to forgive the angel, but that’s a different problem. I ran from the room because I was still emotional about what you had asked me, and I came to another realization, and I needed space. I’m sorry if I worried you.”

Lucifer’s hand immediately comes up to stroke Dean’s hair. He knows better than most what the emotional effect of the realization that things were not as perfect as you thought, or that someone you loved doesn’t love you back. He can’t even try to bring any anger into this situation. “Forgiven, Dean. I shouldn’t have pushed you, but I didn’t want you to try to believe that you ever deserved the fact he told you that you weren’t good enough.”

Dean pauses given the fact he had just told himself that he wouldn’t push for that exact reason, the whole situation seems amusing. Then, he leans into the touch and decides to admit at least some things. “You weren’t really pushing. The only options I had right then were to lie to us both, or to admit that my father hurt me rather often. Neither one was good in my eyes. You reminded me, which path I should take.”

“I would have killed him for you, if he had been alive when everything went down.”

“I think perhaps I would have let you. I don’t know. There’s a part of me that wars with that idea because I should be a good son, but there’s the part that knows Sammy left because dad was never going to let us live normal lives, the part that knows I hid a portion of myself for most of my life because he wouldn’t like, and the part that knows that even if he had known the truth, he still would have claimed mom was innocent,” Dean whispers.

Lucifer regards those last words. In the other universe, it had seemed as though Dean almost always chose Mary’s side. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. In fact, there almost seems to be a hidden anger in the way he mentioned that. “Dean, do you blame your mother for what has happened?”

“Is there any universe where any of this started without her? Could you have made me and Sam into the perfect vessels without her interference, offering us up like candies? Would dad have been violent and dragging us behind him, if mother had just let Azazel complete the bargain without intervening? For that matter, would I have had my mother if she had just kept her word?” Dean rants. He knows this anger doesn’t make sense. His mother loved them even if she did do things that hurt them. That’s what the world does. 

“There are so many universes that the very question is ridiculous. There is a universe where you and Sammy never lived. That one your mother made a different choice, she let John die. You don’t want to see that world. I never had a reason to break free, and Michael never remembered to question what father said. I died. Michael lived. Michael became even worse than me in any universe I’ve seen. Playing what ifs, doesn’t help. If you need to be angry at her, be angry at her. Be pissed, but don’t ask yourself what would have happened if she didn’t because neither of us will ever know.”

Dean shakes his head. The what ifs weren’t the real purpose of that, the purpose was to find out whether Lucifer would have a problem with him ranting about family problems. That was not going to happen today. He should still try to figure out what happens next though. With one angel already there, this could get chaotic if he didn’t know the full plan. “What are we doing next?”

Lucifer sighs. He’d prefer not to think about the next steps again. First Gabriel, now Dean. He might never have peace again at this rate. At least until he frees his aunt and convinces her to forgive him for the crimes, he committed against her before realizing that God was not to be trusted. “You’re human,” he says, thinking that was as good of a starting point as anything else he could come up with.

Dean glances down at himself in question. That seems like one of the oddest starting points to his question that he’s ever heard. Of course, he’s human. What else would he be? “I’m aware.”

“When we try to reform hell and take down God, we really need you to be more than human. That being said we can’t get rid of your humanity. Not just for moral reasons, but for personal ones. I know you’ll never want to give up your humanity.”

Dean pulls away from Lucifer to stare at him. That seems dangerously close to ultimatum territory, and he’s not sure how he feels about the idea of his fiancé trying to guilt trip into becoming more than human. This was one of his greatest strengths. He couldn’t handle being one of the monsters that he’s hunted. He couldn’t bear the idea of hurting innocents when he’s not in control of himself. 

Lucifer reaches out without pausing to grab hold of Dean’s shoulder, to ground him to the situation. Panics were not a fun thing, but they were common after being tortured in hell. He’s seen this too many times to bother hesitating before reaching to help. “Dean breathe for me. I promise that whatever you fear is not going to happen. I don’t know what’s going on in your head, but I can promise you without any hardship that I will not let whatever you are fearing happen.”

“Even if I told you that I couldn’t be something more than human. Not without sending myself into a panic larger than this one. Not without injuring others. Not without being a hypocrite.”

“Even then, though I’d prefer for you to hear me out first.” Lucifer gently pulls the human closer to him until Dean is back to pressing his whole body into his. He no longer knows which one of them this constant contact is for, and he can’t bring himself to figure it out. Love could easily grow here, when he would make promises that break what his plans were with so little hesitation.

Dean chokes back a half sob as he remembers the times that Sam tried to convince him that not all monsters were evil. He remembers cutting their heads off anyway. He can’t bring himself to be one of them. His self-hatred already peaks its ugly head anytime he cares for someone, he doesn’t need to bring it to new heights by actually becoming the things that he used to kill on a general basis. 

Lucifer tightens his grip as he hears Dean try to bite down on his emotions. He won’t let the man spiral any further. He’ll just start talking, and he won’t stop until Dean makes him. “I told you when we first met that I used to hold the mark of Cain. I want you to take the mark from Cain. Don’t worry, he’ll give it to you. He hates me plenty for giving it to him, so he’ll be overjoyed that someone is willing to take it. He might try to convince you to try to kill me. I’d prefer if you didn’t listen to that part of his rant. The side of me that he knows is the one that I am not proud of, yet that I had no control over. No one knew how to control the mark when I had it.”

“You told me it made you kill people. Lucifer, I can’t kill people. I mean I can kill people trying to hurt us or our plans or monsters that hurt others, but I can’t bring myself to kill those who are not guilty. I just wouldn’t survive that,” Dean explains almost pleading Lucifer to understand, to tell him that he’s valid, that this isn’t a deal breaker.

“Hush, love, hush. I promise I wouldn’t let you kill innocents. I know now how to handle the mark. It wants you to hurt people, but more than that it wants you to hurt those you care about. It won’t make you kill anyone if you constantly bring pain to someone you have compassion for,” Lucifer whispers. He bets that Dean will pull himself up to the surface to figure out what Lucifer’s plan is for who to bring pain too.

Dean pushes himself upwards to be able to see Lucifer’s eyes. “If you think I’m hurting Sammy or Bobby or even my mother who I’m clearly angry at, you do not know me nearly as well as I thought you did.”

“Never. Dean, I would never believe you capable of hurting any of them. You’ve loved them and protected them. Is there a world where I can have a token of your affection, Dean?” The question touches on some of his next points, but he’d rather just hear the words right now rather than trying to explain everything right then.

Dean freezes. He didn’t think Lucifer would ask him that point blank, because he knows that the truth is yes. And that it’s this world. His breaths come slightly quicker until he realizes that Lucifer wouldn’t ask him just to make fun of him. He’d make sure that everything was going to be alright first. “Yes, you already have portions of my affection.”

Lucifer’s body releases some of its tension. He doesn’t need to worry about what kind of affection is there, that’s something that Dean can tell him when he’s ready, or if need be, just never tell him. He won’t judge for something like that. “Then, you can hurt me or you can try. I’ve lived through enough pain that it makes no difference to me whether I take on a bit more or not.”

Dean manages to twist himself so that he’s on top of Lucifer and glaring down at him. “You will not suffer for me. I will not allow it.”

Lucifer stares up at the rage he sees in Dean’s eyes. He wonders whether he was always going to be this lost or not. “Yes, you will. You will let me take the pain so that you can avoid killing people, because I am asking you to, and I am telling you with every ounce of honesty that I have, that it will not hurt me.”

Dean’s brow furrows in confusion. Sure, he’s not an angel, but with the mark of Cain, he’ll be strong enough to do damage to the archangel. Just because they were infallible doesn’t mean that pain can’t touch them. That’s not how pain works. 

Lucifer barely contains his sigh. The stubborn human is not getting his point. He’ll feel the pain that’s the point, but he enjoys some bits of pain with his arousal at times, and when it will keep the world from imploding, he likes it even better. So, instead of answering Dean with words, he jerks his hips up into Dean’s to hopefully get the message across.


	20. The First Night Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now, they have sex. Because when it comes to the boys both of them would rather be physical than admit emotions at all.

Dean’s eyes widen when he feels Lucifer’s arousal as he jerks underneath him. The only things that could be turning him on right now are their discussions of pain and the fact that Dean is quite literally on top of him right now and could easily take control. He leans down so that more of his weight presses down on the archangel with a quirk in his brow. “Really?”

Lucifer barely bites down on his lip in time to avoid releasing the moan into the air. He can’t believe that this is happening to him right now with Dean leaning even more of his weight over him. This is not the greatest way to have this discussion, but honestly, with Dean still being completely human all it would take is a flick of his wrist and the human would be off of him. He nods, not bringing himself to speaking any more than necessary. 

Dean despite his brother’s beliefs does not know all there is to know about sex. This one isn’t something that he’s dealt with before just because he never considered pain to be a possible option in the field of sex. Logically, he knew that he should pull back and make Lucifer explain before being willing to do anything more, but since the archangel appears willing, he’s not going to force himself to stop and be the responsible one. He pushes forward to grab Lucifer’s lips in a bruising kiss.

Lucifer doesn’t hide the moan when Dean lunges the rest of the way forward to force their lips together. He leans into the touches and lets Dean take what he wants. He’s forgotten just how much he loves when his partner takes control, and he doesn’t have to deal with choices of any sort. 

Dean grins as he hears the noise come from Lucifer. Dragging these sounds out of the angel might become his new favorite thing to do. Instead of pulling back like a portion of his brain tells him to do, he lowers his lips to Lucifer’s neck and places a kiss right over the pulse point. 

Lucifer doesn’t use his strength to buck against Dean, but he pushes back slightly any way. He has no idea what Dean’s response to the teasing manner was going to be. He wants the man to use more force. He supposes he could ask for it, but that would be far less fun than convincing the man to do it on his own. 

Dean quirks his lips against Lucifer’s neck as he realizes that Lucifer clearly wants more from him than what he’s currently getting from Dean. So, he nudges Lucifer’s legs to the side so that his body can be in between them as he nips at the skin on Lucifer’s neck. At this point, Lucifer could probably grind up on his leg if he wanted, and Dean wouldn’t stop him. 

Lucifer groans as he has slight freedom to push his body up to grind up against the legs between them, but that’s not what he wants. He wants Dean to take what he wants and have to beg. Only the divine could hazard a guess on how long its been since he’s even tried to let someone else have this much control over him. “Dean,” he chokes out.

Dean’s a bit impressed with himself. He expected that this was going to last a lot longer before Lucifer would actually speak to try to get what he wants. At this point, Dean’s pretty confident that Lucifer wants him to make the decisions about what they do here, and how far they’ll go. He rewards the effort by reaching for Lucifer’s arms and pinning them up above Lucifer’s head with his own as he pushes away from Lucifer’s body, so that he can stare down at the angel. “Yes, dear, something you want?”

Lucifer pants as his arms are twisted. Not enough to truly give him any pain. He probably won’t convince the human to give him much in the way of pain before Dean takes the mark, but he could probably get him to take control. “Please, just give me more. Whatever you want.”

Dean smirks at the angel below. That was a dangerous statement, whatever you want. If he was a cruel person, those words could mean finding his own pleasure and never touching the other man, but he was not cruel. Not in general life practices anyway. He leans back down to kiss Lucifer, long and deep, while holding him down. 

The fact that Lucifer bucks when he pulls away tugs on his own little kink, because they both know that if Lucifer wants to break free from his control, all he has to do is use his own force, or for that matter he could just ask Dean to back off, but he’s not doing either. He’s letting Dean tease him with tiny nips on the neck and long kisses without moving anything else. That kind of control sends all kinds of blood south for Dean. 

Dean waits only a couple seconds to see whether or not the angel will actually try to force him back into giving some of the touches. A pleasant surprise to see that the angel is willing to wait on him even if he breathes deeply in between moments just keeping his eyes on Dean. If Lucifer wants a little bit of pain, Dean will give it to him. As a human, he might not be able to truly bring him to the edge of whatever it was that Lucifer’s limits actually were, but he could do something before he tried something different. 

Lucifer actually screams when Dean bites down on his neck with full strength. Not because of the pain, but because he was not expecting the human to actually be willing to give him something that real for the night. The pleasure shoots through his body, and his hips jerk up on their own accord to rub off against Dean’s leg. 

Dean pulls back at Lucifer’s scream. One look at the angel’s face tells him that this was not a reaction because it was too much but quite the opposite. The fact that Lucifer was currently rubbing off on his leg was definitely a sign of that, not to mention that by this point, he was quite hard himself and ready to get some more friction, but teasing the angel happens to be a better plan than just jerking them both off. 

Dean places his hands down on either side of Lucifer’s hips and pushes down to keep him in place. That means that Lucifer’s hands are free again, but Lucifer doesn’t make any move to remove them from where Dean put them. 

Lucifer reigns in his strength to keep himself from bucking the human off and flipping the two of them over so that Dean was on the bottom. He catches his breath to stare up at Dean. “This mean you accept my proposal for the mark?”

Dean quirks an eyebrow up at Lucifer. “If you’re able to still think about the damn mark of Cain while I’m trying really hard to make sure you don’t have brains anymore, I am not succeeding in my goals.”

Lucifer comes up with a snarky reply but doesn’t have the air to respond when Dean slips one of his hands into his pants and rests right over the bulge. He doesn’t really want Dean to stop and trying to snark at him right now seems extremely unlikely to get him what he wants. 

Dean barely contains his glee at the fact that his fiancé doesn’t immediately try to snark back this time. This time he won’t let Lucifer’s mind wander away from what he’s doing to him. There will be no chance for the man to switch back to thinking about the future. He doesn’t need to focus on what will happen later. Right now, what he wants is for his fiancé to focus only on him. He strokes down once while keeping his eyes straight on Lucifer’s. 

Lucifer has no idea what Dean’s plan was, but he certainly wasn’t going to stop the man, but if his plans only involved Lucifer’s pleasure, he is going to end up flipping the positions extremely quickly. Nevertheless, he keeps his eyes on Dean’s as he strokes down. His hands stay where Dean placed them through sheer force of will. 

Dean pauses as he stares at Lucifer. He had been more than willing to take control at the start of this because he knows how to make out with people, he knows how to turn them on, but this is now out of his realm of comfort. Yet, he doesn’t want to stop. “Tell me if I screw up?”

The hint of insecurity draws Lucifer’s attention. Normally, if he heard a voice like that somewhere in hell, he’d laugh. The person would have just given him the leverage that he needs to break them. But this time, it comes from a man that he could easily end up loving, a man that he will marry, and he has none of the normal desire to try and break them. “You won’t, but I promise I will stop you if I am even remotely uncomfortable,” he swears. The promise dropping from his lips without any hesitation. 

Dean grins up at Lucifer. The fact that even when the man has every reason to stop him from continuing what he’s currently doing, he trusts him. The devil trusts Dean Winchester. That makes him happier than most facts of this world, especially now that he knows how his life started down this crazy path. He leans down and he pulls off Lucifer’s pants and underwear. 

He doesn’t allow himself the time to doubt himself, because if he stops to think, he’s going to chicken himself out of taking the path that he’s already chosen to go down. He leans down and wraps his lips around the head of Lucifer’s cock, with his eyes still staring up at Lucifer. 

Lucifer lets out a short breath of amusement as his hands grasp at the sheets. He can tell that Dean hasn’t actually done this before, but the fact that he’s trying is truly endearing. He’s pretty sure Dean was hoping to make his mind focus only on him, and that seems to be accomplished. 

Dean furrows his brow as he tries to remember what makes him feel good when a girl has done this to him. He kind of wishes for once that Lucifer would take the control back by now. He can’t think of a way to ask for that without having to remove himself, but he doesn’t want to do that either. Finally he decides to try to just bob his head to take more and more of Lucifer into his mouth. 

Lucifer pauses as Dean’s thoughts filter in. Most of the time he ignores the small thoughts that pass through his mind when someone thinks of him before a thought, but this time he focuses on it. Because Dean apparently wants to give up control for a moment again. He might like giving up control just fine, but that doesn’t mean that’s the smartest thing to do with a partner that has never been with a man before. He’s more than happy to take control this time or anytime that Dean asks. 

He pushes himself forward careful not to move himself further into Dean so that Dean can clearly see his face. Then he moves his hands over to Dean’s hair and leaves them there for a moment. “Do you want me to take control?”

Dean still doesn’t move away from the dick his mouth is around and jerks his head in a small nod before sucking. He has no idea what he’s doing, but Lucifer does and that’s enough for him.

Lucifer barely pauses before gripping Dean’s hair a little harder. He guides Dean to take just enough of to not trigger the gag reflex before pulling him off. He’s careful to make sure that Dean can still breathe at any given moment. 

Dean breathes through his nose but keeps up the sucking motion that he has started earlier. He relaxes against the hands in his hair and relies on Lucifer to guide him. He’s still painfully turned on, but he’ll deal with that after his partner is satisfied. He doesn’t like pursuing his own pleasure before his partner.

Lucifer knows that he’s close to coming, because Dean had been teasing him for quite some time before they started this. He’s still not sure how they went from talking about Dean potentially harming him in order to ensure that the Mark would make him beyond human. He pulls out at the last moment to cum over to the side. 

Dean pauses once the dick is out of his mouth and watches Lucifer’s face as he comes all over the side of the bed. He finds the expression of freedom on Lucifer’s face to be addictive. He wants nothing more than to drag himself up to kiss him senseless. It takes him more than a moment before remembering that he can. 

Lucifer responds immediately when the human is back on his lap with a hard on, kissing him with as much passion as he can fill into a single kiss again. Their lips move against one another with Dean just taking the dominance again, Lucifer decides to try something new. He moves his tongue to actually fight Dean for the right to lead the kiss. 

Dean moans when Lucifer starts responding by trying to win dominance in the fight. He lets Lucifer win, because all he wants right now is something to grind down on to get off, and he doesn’t really care how he gets to that point. 

Lucifer reaches down with one hand to shove Dean’s pants and underwear down so that he can actually touch the human properly. Their first time probably should have been more talked about than quick actions where neither of them were even planning on getting undressed. Honestly, he wasn’t expecting Dean to come near him until the wedding night when he had to.

Dean kicks off the pants once they’re down so that he can’t get trapped in them later on. His eyes stay glued on Lucifer’s as he lets the angel take the lead. 

Lucifer wraps his hand around Dean’s cock and starts a simple rhythm that has Dean humping forward with each tug. His other hand comes up to cup Dean’s face and leaning in to kiss him. By the time that Dean comes all over them both, Lucifer has a peaceful smile on his face. He snaps his fingers and the mess vanishes. 

He leads them both back into a laying position on the bed without hesitating. His arms wrap around Dean. They still need sleep because as much as he would like to lock the door and ignore all the various things they need to accomplish, he can’t. They might have a plan, but they still need to get hell ready for a wedding, and he still needs to convert Adam into a demon. 

Dean curls further into Lucifer’s warmth with his eyes drooping shut. “What if I’m not able to hurt you?”

“Then, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now, we’ve got so many different things that could go horribly wrong that the best bet is going to be plan for the best case and the worst case and let everything else fall into place,” Lucifer offers. He wishes his heart didn’t soar at the fact that Dean was practically telling him that he cared. 

“What’s worse case scenario?”

“Worse case is that I have to lock you up to prevent you from killing someone you care about or anyone really.”

Dean lets his eyes flutter shut. Lucifer had already thought of all the problems that he’d have with the plan and created a solution so that he wouldn’t have to suffer thinking about the possible consequences of his actions. 

As sleep slowly claims Dean, Lucifer smiles down at the human just laying on him for comfort. This marriage might be sham for most people’s definition, but they’d make it work anyway. He barely caught the soft murmur from Dean.

“This is why I’m falling in love with you.”

Lucifer’s eyes go wide when he realizes that human doesn’t realize that he’s spoken those words out loud. He won’t force Dean to say them while he’s awake but the very thought gives him hopes about things being better than he thought. Still falling in love with him, doesn't mean that Dean's in love. It just means that its possible.


	21. The Courts of Hell #2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Demons get orders for a wedding. Ruby is a fool, and Dean is a king.

Dean wakes up in the morning to Lucifer’s arms wrapped comfortably around him, but the angel fully awake and looking like he’s been working for hours. “Were you not able to fall asleep?”

“Angels don’t actually sleep, but I figured that if it made you more comfortable for me to be near you, that it wouldn’t bother me any to just lie here and work from bed for a while.”

Dean blinks. Every single time he thinks he has this whole I’m going to marry an archangel thing down, something new just gets thrown on him that proves that most of the time he’s barely keeping his head above the water. 

Lucifer notices the hesitation flickering on Dean’s face and shakes his head. “Whatever thoughts just made you think you’re not able to do this, I will remind you that last night happened. Did it feel like too much then?”

“Not for a moment,” Dean answers realizing that the truth was easy to admit with Lucifer. Once upon a time, he would have struggled to even tell himself the truth, but here they are. He’s finding that each and every time the Dean that died on Earth would have had a massive panic about even remotely considering telling the truth, that he just tells Lucifer the truth and it all works out after that. 

“Then don’t worry about whatever thoughts just went through your head. We might be different, but we’re not so different that we can’t make each other happy.”

Dean shrugs. That’s a pretty sentiment, but he’s pretty sure as the one already in love that this is not the way the story will end. The story will end just as almost every love story does with death and despair and one person being left behind. 

Lucifer stares at Dean for a moment. His thoughts are still close enough to the surface that a part of him wants to dive in and find out what the human could possibly be thinking at this moment, but Dean had asked for his trust. Invading someone’s thoughts does not count as trusting them, so he’ll wait. “We need to hold court and get demons working on the various stuff we’ll need for the wedding.”

“That’s all we need today,” Dean says a bit shocked. Honestly, his normal day life is almost never as simple as the day that Lucifer just suggested. 

“After that, I’ll send you off to help with stuff with the guidance of both Azazel and Crowley, and I’ll go make your brother a demon, but we should do court first.” Lucifer doesn’t relish leaving hell under Dean’s control for how ever long turning the boy into a demon will take, but he admits that he does need to make sure that the human is demon before the wedding, so he’ll do it. 

Dean nods and pushes himself off the bed. He looks down and notices that there aren’t any of the natural stains and issues that are typically involved with going to bed without cleaning after having sex. He blinks for a long moment, before deciding that this must be one of the many perks of dating an angel. They can just wave their hand and make things happen when humans would have to go through a whole load of other actions to make sure that they were clean. 

Lucifer walks over to his closet and pulls out a suit that has his sigil on the breast pocket. “Will you wear my suit today?”

Dean nods and takes the fancy garment. He starts pulling it on before realizing that Lucifer is already walking out the door. “Are you not waiting?” 

Lucifer pauses. The need to be there first when he hadn’t announced that Dean was to be his consort still echoes in the back of his head, but the actual need is gone. He could just wait for the human to be done and walk with him. “Would you mind if I went ahead? I don’t have a reason, just a feeling.”

Dean immediately turns to face Lucifer. Half-dressed isn’t the greatest look for serious conversations, but he’ll make do. His hand reaches up to cup Lucifer’s face to ensure that Lucifer was paying close attention to his next words. He has no plans to be repeating them anytime soon. “You don’t have to have a reason. You just have to tell me what you’re doing because I don’t like to be confused. If you’re leaving to get there early that’s more than alight. If you’re leaving because you have some egging emotion in the back of your head telling you that entering at the same time as me is bad plan, that’s fine by me. I won’t make you change, Lucifer, I just need to know what the next action is so that I’m not completely blind sighted by whatever happens next.”

Lucifer smiles down at Dean. Barely even having clothes on from where he was putting on the suit the human way, but still trying to make sure that Lucifer was the one that felt comfortable in this position. Maybe his brother was right, and that there is a chance that the two of them will be able to care for each other. “I’ll be at court waiting for you. I won’t start court before you get there because that will both torment Ruby more and give me a chance to prove to the demons that you are mine.”

“I’ll join you as soon as I get dressed.” Dean drops his hands and goes back to trying to put on a suit. He’s worn them briefly for short periods of time, but he’s never actually had a position where he’d claim that the fancy attire was necessary by any means. He was a hunter, most of the time they were wearing whatever outfit would get them what they needed in the shortest amount of time, which is why he’s worn suits before. Sometimes pretending to be fancy agents was the most simple way of getting other people to believe the story that was being give. 

Dean hears the footsteps fade away as Lucifer walks out of the room. There’s a part of him that wanted to see whether if he asked Lucifer to stay and not leave him whether he’d actually follow through, but that wouldn’t be fair to either of them. He didn’t need Lucifer in this instance, and Lucifer has trust issues on a large scale because of everything that has happened throughout his lifetime and this wouldn’t be a lie to Dean but it would be to Lucifer. 

A knock on the door leads to Dean jerking up as he tugs on the suit jacket. He wasn’t expecting anyone to be coming near here this early. Especially since Crowley had already been excused to watch Adam. He opens the door to find Azazel leaning against the wall. 

“I got what you wanted.”

Dean grins. “You were able to find the ring?”

Azazel hands over the ring in a cloth so that no one could see the ring for what it was right away. That was Dean’s choice to make, not his. “I’m a prince of hell that once literally used the body of your father as a vessel. Finding the ring was pretty easy, the matter of figuring out a way to get it to you without Lucifer realizing that I was doing something was much harder.”

“You could have told him. I still have to ask him to wear it, but if you told him you were finding something for me that would make me feel better at the wedding, he wouldn’t have asked any further questions.”

Azazel shakes his head. “Yes, for some reason my king seems to trust you even though the actions you’ve taken in the past would make it seem counter productive to trusting you. I still don’t really understand why he’s chosen you.”

“You’re not the only one that’s been confused by that turn of events. Not that I’d trade them for anything. I fell in love with him,” Dean mutters. He still can barely believe that saying those words is no longer a lie that both parties are using for political gain, but the utter truth that he can give at any given moment. 

Azazel quirks his lips up before walking away from the door’s edge. “If you hurt him, I’ll kill you.”

“Sounds fair enough,” Dean replies. He starts walking down the hallway to make his way to court. He notices that Azazel walks far enough behind that he’s clearly giving his king the respect that the position offers, but he’s also close enough that if anything comes anywhere near Dean, he can be on them in under thirty seconds. It is a little cute if he’s being honest. 

Dean pushes his way through the crowd of demons to the doors of court and walks straight in. When the demons gape behind him, he simply walks up to sit next to Lucifer. He offers no bow or other sign of respect. They’ve agreed to be equals, so that’s what Dean will be. 

Lucifer gestures at the doors and they billow wide open with Lucifer lounging in the middle of the throne. As the demons start piling into the room, his eyes turn to Ruby. Dean had told him of her punishment, so when she started pushing herself up, he releases enough magic to keep her pinned down.

“My lord,” she whimpers. 

“I believe I told you that you could stand either when Dean chose to forgive you or until I called the next court to order. I’ve let demons enter this room, but I do not recall telling anyone that this was a formal court hearing. In fact, this isn’t a formal court hearing at all. This is me giving orders to be completed, because unfortunately I have places to be and things to do today that will keep me from being able to hear complaints today.”

Ruby’s eyes burn with anger as she turns the piercing gaze straight to Dean. “You did this. This is all your fault. You’ve corrupted him with your human ways.”

Dean blinks down at her. He thought that he’d be slightly merciful after everything that happened, but after that all he wants to do was strangle her senseless. “It would appear, darling, that the demon wants to remain there for longer.”

“I never claimed she was smart enough to understand that antagonizing the man that could actually save her today wasn’t the right move.”

Ruby recovers from her initial anger to look up at Lucifer with full tears in her eyes. “Can’t you see, my kind, that this human wants you to destroy everything that we’ve ever been working on building. Can’t you see that he will destroy all that we worked for. He won’t let you kill humanity.”

Lucifer rolls his eyes as more demons filter in. “Killing all of humanity was never the plan. If all the humans are dead, we don’t have vessels or fun things to mess with. You assume that your plans were my plans. Let me be clear, they are not the same thing. They will never be the same thing.”

Azazel walks in and slaps a hand down on Ruby’s shoulder forcing her knees to buckle so she was slightly bowed. “I believe what you meant to say was. I beg for your mercy, King Dean.”

Ruby spits on the ground but defiantly doesn’t speak. 

Dean comes close to letting her up anyway because he doesn’t want to deal with her hatred today, but that would defeat the purpose. Instead, he lounges back towards his throne and turns his gaze to Lucifer. Silently urging him to start this meeting before anyone else decided to bring up the last time he was in charge because that would not go well for them. 

“As I’m sure you all remember, there will be a wedding. Since the venue is hell, we need to make the place fancy, fit for angelic guests, and possibly a guest appearance of God.”

“Sorry sir, could you please repeat that last part?” A demon in the back calls out looking paler than he had moments before. He’s lived through an angry devil albeit barely, but an angry God. He does not want any of that. 

“There is a slight chance that God will show up to the wedding. And by slight chance I mean hell might freeze if he does, but that’s not really important. What is important is that I need a new room carved out to be a proper ballroom and aisle area. Most of you will start work on that immediately, the rest of you are in charge of decorations, which of course can be run by Dean. You might ask where I’ll be. I will be creating a new demon to celebrate the joyous occasion.”

Dean pauses at the looks of shock on the faces of literally everyone in the room. Of course, Crowley isn’t here to make them all look like fools. That’d be too much to ask for at a time like this. “There is one more thing we’ll need that ties into decorations but is a bit different. Both of us will need new clothing to wear to a wedding, but as a demonic wedding has never taken place before, I doubt any of us will have a clue what to do.”

The demons start edging away from the throne as if knowing that Dean will actually hand assign that task. Dean manages to only smirk on the inside of his head, because this might make him a few allies and piss Ruby off even further than she already is. “Ruby, was it?”

Ruby’s head snaps up and she looks ready to rip his head off the next time he spoke regardless on whether or not it was helpful to her situation. The nice flames in her eyes make it seem like even messing with her would be akin to stepping into a fire, too bad Dean has never once stopped when something looks dangerous for his safety. 

“I think that I will forgive you. Get up, dear.”

Ruby struggles to stand, but after days of kneeling her legs hold no power to get her up. She feels a tight grip on her arm, and she soars upwards and lands right on her feet, swaying in place. 

Dean smiles at her. “In fact, you can make it all up to me by making sure that the outfits for the wedding are amazing. I’ll even do you a favor and give you a partner. Gabriel is one of Lucifer’s brothers, and he’ll be delighted in having something to do with the wedding.”

The rage on her face was worth it as Lucifer swings an arm around him, rolling his eyes. “Good, my love, that will definitely occupy them both for the wedding. Does anyone have any questions?”

Neither of the kings of hell are surprised when silence meets their question as demons scurry from the room. Lucifer turns to Dean once the last of them has gone. “Are you still extracting revenge on my brother?”

“Maybe a tiny bit, but also if she ends up dead, that’s a huge weight off my shoulders, and I don’t think she’ll last more than a day.” Dean fiddles with the ring sitting in his pocket. “Lucifer, can I ask something of you before you head off to help Adam?”

“Of course, you can ask me anything you like.” He must admit that he wouldn’t know what to expect after everything that had happened today, but humans are weird. 

“In human culture it is custom to exchange rings with each other, and I know there is no proposal here, but I’d still like to be a little normal on human standards. I found my mom’s old ring, and I was hoping you’d be willing to wear it,” Dean mumbles. He can’t believe that he found enough courage to ask that question. 

Lucifer stops hearing the words after the first sentence because Dean drops his voice too low to hear, but he can see his thoughts just fine. The words filter through, and Lucifer knows just how big of a deal this is to his human. “I would be honored.”

Dean beams at Lucifer as he digs out the ring, which Lucifer carefully fits around his finger. 

Lucifer lifts a hand and runs it across Dean’s cheek before kissing him. “I will see you as soon as I can,” he whispers before leaving out the way he came.


	22. The Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam becomes a demon, Lucifer learns that Dean isn't just falling in love with him, and Adam points out that Dean isn't the only person in this relationship that's in love with the other one.

Lucifer wants to ask Dean to be careful when he’s busy making sure that Adam gets turned into a demon. Time passes differently when you’re in each other’s head. This could take one hour but feel like 8 years, or it could take eight months while feeling like half an hour. There is no in between with things like this.

Crowley stands in front of the youngest Winchester’s door as his king walks up to him. He offers a low bow before meeting Lucifer’s eyes. “You do not convert many of the demons, my king. Nor, do you do it in the common way. What are my orders for in case this lasts longer than the anticipated time?”

“Find a way to grovel when the angels show up for a wedding that is no longer happening on schedule and pray that they agree to let you live despite the transgression. But seriously, maybe like a week out from the wedding search for a way to contact me to tell me to hurry. We don’t want to give anyone any reasons to expect foul play.”

Crowley nods. “As you wish, my king,” he swears before leaving. His steps would seem calm to the normal observer, but he’s making sure that he’ll be out of the hallway long before Lucifer has even a chance to enter the mind of Adam. 

Lucifer walks into Adam’s room to stare at the human lounging on the bed. Something akin to compassion crosses his mind as he sits down on the armchair across from the bed. “Are you prepared to be a demon?”

Adam shrugs. “What I’m prepared for doesn’t really matter anymore. I agreed to pay this price, so this is the price I must pay. The world doesn’t change from being shades of grey just because humans would prefer to see things in black or white.”

“Wise words for a human.”

A huff of laughter falls from Adam’s mouth as he turns so he’s laying to face Lucifer across from him. “Lucifer, the king of demons, I’m a Winchester, and no one can claim we’re completely human by the common definition of the word human.”

Lucifer nods. Then, he blows out a string of air to set the room to a toastier temperature. Most demons are turned by bombarding them with torture until whatever was left of their souls withers, but the demons that he makes choose to corrupt themselves in their own heads. “I need permission to enter your head. Once you say yes, we’ll begin. There will be no turning back at that point.”

Adam sighs but meets Lucifer’s eyes dead on. He figures most people would be cowering at this point, but no one can claim that he’s got the best survival skills in this world. “I give you permission to enter my mind and dig up every single dirty secret I have and whatever else needs to happen.”

Lucifer bares his teeth with a sharp grin. “Oh child, you’re smarter than you know. The first part is to lay your soul bare before me. The second part is where I make sure you know the darkest portions of yourself.”

Lucifer slips into Adam’s head with ease. After this he’s been given permission, not to mention the fact that entering human’s minds has always been a strength of his. The warmth that comes from a mind that still believes in the inherent goodness of the world amuses him. Corruption can happen in the most delightful ways sometimes. 

“Tell me something simple first, what’s your favorite color and why?”

Adam’s brain freezes as if it thought that the start would be something completely different. Thoughts whirl around Lucifer as it tries to find a color that speaks to them. The normal answer appears first, a nice orange from the sunset, because as long as he’s seen that color once a day, he knows that he’s made it through a day.

That answer makes Lucifer feel better about the situation. At least this time he didn’t get someone trying to tell him they chose the color because it looked pretty. He can’t stand shallow people. The boy didn’t know why his favorites mattered to Lucifer at a time like this, but Lucifer can’t figure out a soul if he doesn’t have background, and he’s found that favorites make a decent background.

Lucifer continues with animals, apparently Adam likes moths because they have the same strengths as butterflies, only they’re harder to see yet that makes humans dislike them. The next was food, which gave the answer of chocolate because of the comfort it gives. This continues for quite some time until Lucifer is content that he knows how the boy chooses things. 

Adam looks for the best in every single situation. He can’t stand the idea of something happening for no reason at all. That might be endearing had he found a human like this at the beginning of the world’s creation. People like this remind him that some people aren’t rude and uncaring like the majority. Some break out of the little boxes that humans construct to keep themselves imprisoned. 

“Tell me a secret, Adam. I don’t care if it is yours or someone else’s but give me a secret.”

“I don’t have secrets of my own. I didn’t see any reason to keep them. Who cares if everyone knows which girl I like? Who cares if I don’t necessarily believe in the government that currently exists? I have a secret though, if you’re willing to hear it.”

Lucifer chuckles at the way the little human’s mind works. The thoughts come unhindered on the plane that they’re existing on. He doesn’t pause to consider his words here, they just come straight from the heart. “This should be fun. Whose secret is it?”

“Dean’s.”

Lucifer blinks in surprise. Both of them had promised trust, and neither had been keeping secrets. He knows that they told each other things that had the other one questioning their sanity. This secret would probably be something that Dean didn’t know how to tell him, or something so large that even Dean wasn’t able to trust him with this truth. “Tell me,” he demands. The order burning through his veins. 

“Dean Winchester loves you, He’s willing to take down God himself because you ask him to, he’s willing to try to deal with God’s sister who is known to hate humans for you, and he’s willing to turn his brother into a demon. He figured out that this means he’s in love with you a couple nights ago, but he has no clue how to tell you.”

Lucifer almost rips himself out of Adam’s mind, knowing full well that the human wouldn’t survive it. He catches himself at the last moment. The only thing that stops him from continuing the chaos, is the fact that Dean would be upset at him for killing his brother even if he has a decent reason to want to see Dean immediately.

“Your brother loves me.”

Adam’s amusement almost leads to Lucifer deciding that pain would be the easier way to force the human into a demon. “I’m surprised that you’re surprised. He’s been hanging off of you, making sure to give you more contact. Dean’s no good with words, so he was going to try to show you what he felt through actions and touch.”

Lucifer thinks back to the last few interactions with Dean, and he has to admit that the human had initiated more touches than he had previously. That made Lucifer think that the trust was growing between them, but perhaps Adam was right and it was a very weak attempt at telling Lucifer the truth. 

“If you want something even funnier, Crowley was panicked about the idea of keeping this a secret from you for more than a couple days, but then he realized that I knew the secret too and that you’d be doing this as quickly as you could manage it.”

“I stopped for sex before I started even considering coming towards you.”

Adam’s metaphorical body leans against a block just staring at Lucifer. “What’s next?”

“What pisses you off most in the world?”

“Child abandonment.” The answer comes automatically, almost as if the answer had been waiting on the tip of his tongue and was refusing to back down from its location. Honestly, that seems interesting given he doubts that anyone knows the precise process to convert a demon using nothing but words and questions and hypotheticals. 

That answer leads Lucifer into the beginning of the corruption without him even having to ask another question for another thing that makes him angry. That makes Lucifer want to leap with joy. He doesn’t know what time is doing in the outside world, but they’re moving at a decent pace here in the mental world. “Tell me, Adam, what you think of the fact that your father left your mother to raise you alone, at the fact your father was willing to abandon one child because he dared to want a life outside of hunting, and the other child still has lasting self-degradation placed by your father?”

“My father is not a good man, and he’s definitely a terrible father. I think of all of his sons, I’m the one who had the best shot of turning out all right. Too late for that though. I’m going to be a demon. Dean will be the king of hell.”

Lucifer hums. This was a good first step. He’s pissed off enough that he’ll be easier to bend him to the will of demons. “Tell me, little one, what would be a fitting punishment for someone like that?”

“What if I don’t know all of the situation?”

“What don’t you know about your father’s choices because I’m confident that between the two of us, we know them all?”

Adam’s annoyance washes over Lucifer as he regards the boy still sitting there. “I don’t mean whether I know all of the crimes he’s done, I mean what about the reasons he has for them.”

“Does that matter?” Lucifer asks with his head in a tilt. The boy had mentioned the colorless metaphor humans use with black and whites, but surely he realized that some actions do not have excuses for the crimes they commit.

Adam pauses then shakes his head. “Most of the time.”

“But not this time.”

Adam continues shaking his head before dropping down to his knees. “You want to know what my punishment would be for someone like that. Make them live through it all again, only instead of being the attacker, he’d be the child. Over and over again.”

Lucifer scoffs. “Do you know what most of my demons would say?”

“Hmm.”

“That your way doesn’t invoke pain. I would argue that your way would inflict more pain. The majority of people here just end up on the racks, being whipped, carved, and various other physical tortures. But some, mostly the ones that I convert personally like this, they make sure that the punishment fits the crime.”

“Why choose to make me?”

“Because I need you to be a demon, and Dean wouldn’t like it if I actually tortured you for most of this time to make you into a demon, so we’re going back to the traditional means.”

Adam shakes his head. “That’s not true, or at least not the whole truth. You could have tortured me without Dean ever knowing. After I became a demon, I would have been loyal only to you. I would have lied to him had you asked.”

“I won’t,” Lucifer began. His eyes fall closed unable to look the brother of the man he cares for in the eye as he tells the truth this time. “I won’t lie to him. I made him that promise, and for once since the first time that I’ve fallen from God’s grace, someone is choosing to trust my word. I won’t betray that, I can’t betray that. I truly believe doing so would destroy me.”

Adam gives Lucifer a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “You seemed surprised that Dean loved you. Why be surprised when you love him as well?”

“You’re the one who’s supposed to be quizzed over until your soul is corrupted.”

“Look at my soul, Lucifer. Tell me whether the dark strand has grown since we started talking. I’m sure it has given the fact I just admitted to you without any hesitation that I would torture my father if put in a position of power over him after what he did. Now, I’m asking you why you don’t allow just an ounce of goodness into your soul, because one of us is going to be a demon at the end of this, and it won’t be you.”

Lucifer grins. The boy is smarter than he gives himself credit for. His soul has darkened considerably after he admitted that he’d love to punish his father. Still a bit more work to go, just giving him scenarios and choose how to punish people. Throw a curveball where some people might argue a case, but the victim’s pain wins out over the justification of the one being punished. First, though the boy deserves an answer. “I don’t love anymore.”

“Bullshit. That’s absolute bullshit. You love Dean. I’m proof of that if nothing else. You probably love the angel that arrived the other night, otherwise he wouldn’t be in hell before the wedding. You care Lucifer. You just wish you didn’t because you know that the only thing that love ends in is pain.”

Lucifer stares at Adam for a long moment. He could still kill the man and bury him so deeply into the depths of hell that Dean wouldn’t be able to find him even as the new king of hell, but that won’t solve anything. That would only make things worse. 

“You don’t have to worry. I won’t tell anyone. If you wish to keep this a secret from Dean for whatever reasons you may have, that’s up to you. I won’t get involved,” Adam swears.

“Why would I believe that when you’ve already told me Dean’s secret?”

“You’re in my head. I didn’t say anything, I merely thought of secrets that I knew. If you’re telling me that Dean is going to be able to read minds too, then yeah your secret isn’t as safe with me.”

Lucifer shakes his head. Another smart comment that he wasn’t expecting. Maybe, he should just get used to the Winchesters deciding not to follow the normal set of rules that every other human follows more or less perfectly. That might make his life a little easier. “Are you ready to continue?”

“Yes.”

“Good. What would you do to someone who was hitting the partner that they swore to honor, to protect, to defend?”

Adam blinks for a long moment. “Are we talking specifically about spouses or about anyone who has made this vow?”

“Why?” Lucifer can’t see much of a difference between the two statements. They all seem to blur together in his opinion. He’s confident that people would be better off if they just admitted to themselves that when they hurt those, they swore to save that they were no better than the dirt they walked on. 

“Because if it was a marriage, I’d say the racks are a perfectly respectable punishment. They should spend their days waiting for the next punch, the next bout of pain, knowing that they’ll never have a chance to get away like the people they hurt. If you did the same to a child, I’d say you don’t deserve to face just a demon on a system determined to give you the pain that you gave to the child. You deserve to rot in a dungeon wasting away each day, and at random times someone that looks like a grown-up child, walks in to beat you bloody, then leave you there. The unpredict ableness that the child had to feel when they were too young to even know what the concept of abuse was.”

“You’re worse than I thought you’d be at the beginning. I thought I’d have to start making up specifics.”

Adam chuckles as amusement swarms him. “I’ve always thought that the world needs to be fair. The world won’t be fair unless we make it.”

Lucifer decides to push, not enough that Adam would break, although if he fails it might set them back depending on his judgement, but this would be the best time to try something like this regardless. “What about someone who killed another person by lighting them on fire?”

“They lit someone on fire, so they should burn. The flames shouldn’t consume them though. They’d die and be brought back, sure, but that would give them a few seconds of release. No, have the flames only touch their feet, have a burning iron rod pressed into the torso at random points, and smother them with burning water over the head until they were close to choking. Eternity on flames,” Adam declares a wild glare to his eyes that wasn’t there when they started talking about any of this. 

“Even if I told you that the killer thought the victim had hurt their child.”

“Were they right? Did they have evidence?”

Lucifer shrugs. “They weren’t right, but they had a sketch that could have led to the conclusion that it was the victim.”

“They were still wrong and tortured a poor person to death based on a faulty decision. That seems worthy of punishment to me. They shouldn’t have just made assumptions.”

Lucifer leans back as the soul in front of him stops fighting the darkness. The sheath of darkness surrounds the soul, but the shining light underneath still shines. Similar to Azazel’s, and his other direct children. He pulls back slowly until he can blink his physical eyes again. “Open your eyes, Adam.”

Black eyes blink up to stare at him, and Lucifer grins. “Welcome to the realm of hell, as a demon.”

“Good to be here, my king,” Adam replies. A darkness to his tone that wouldn’t have been present earlier no matter how angry he was.


	23. The Process of Waking Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Lucifer and Adam return to hell, but months have passed. Dean is a proper king of hell with some assistance from his bad ass council that consists of one regular demon, one prince of hell, and one archangel. Also the relationship talk finally happens, with surprisingly Dean being the responsible one. Granted he's had months instead of hours.

Lucifer cracks his neck before calling for any of the demons. Crowley would be the one that would know the most about what was going on, but that seems like it would be a waste of his time altogether, and he’d much rather have someone that is loyal to him. “Azazel,” he calls.

Azazel appears in the room almost automatically and barely even glances to the new demon in front of him to instead turn to Satan. “My lord, do you have need of me?”

“Report to me how much time has passed, what’s been happening, and anything else you believe that I need to know before I head back out into hell.”

Azazel drops next to Adam and gives him a brief once over. “You’ve been inside his head for about 2 and a half months. Your wedding date is supposed to be in two days. As for what all has happened, well Dean’s been the only ruler in hell for the past couple months. Ruby is dead, because she didn’t just try to assassinate the king of hell but pissed off the resident archangel as well. We haven’t gotten any RSVPs but based on previous conversations Gabriel believes that Rafael will come. Dean’s whole family appears willing to come, although Ellen and Jo put up a fight to come save him. They were talked down by Sam surprisingly.”

Lucifer leans back against the chair as he stares at Azazel for a moment, wondering whether Azazel was going to consider on his own. He had two days now to get the rest of his portion of the wedding figured out. He had no clue what Dean had even managed tog et done while having to fight the demons to get them to listen to him. “What are Dean’s thoughts on the situation? Especially the fact that I’ve been in someone’s head for about two months according to what you can tell.”

Azazel quirks a corner of his lips up. “Have you looked at your vessel recently?”

“No, I know full well how terrible I’ll look after a full two months not doing any upkeep at all. I should be able to figure something out in two days, although that’s honestly stretching my abilities.”

Azazel summons a mirror and turns it so that Satan can see himself. The best part of some of his job include the few times he can manage to surprise Satan with a fact that he hadn’t been able to figure out before this moment.

Lucifer gasps. The beard that would normally grow completely wild with him being gone for months has been carefully trimmed to be kept at the length that he prefers. Not to mention the fact that the body itself has maintained some of the weight. “What?”

“Dean comes by every night. He makes sure that your vessel is healthy. He talks to you even though we made him aware that you were unable to hear him. I don’t think that he’s upset at the situation at all. He knew what the possibilities were when you started this.”

Lucifer rubs his forehead for a moment just taking in that information. He should have figured out from Dean’s confession after they slept together instead of needing Adam to throw the facts back into his face, but that’s what had to happen because he just couldn’t see the man’s love. This proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Dean did love him. “The wedding, Azazel.”

“Decorations have been completed. The wedding theme matches some of the stuff on the card. Flames are a large part, along with traditional human romantic gestures like roses, white fabrics. Dean decided that the color scheme should be black, white and silver. The archangel helped with that decision. Gabriel helped Dean figure out his outfit, and he chose yours himself so that Dean could still have the wedding day surprise about a week ago when you still hadn’t pulled out of Adam’s head. Rooms have been set up for up to 12 angels to show up. The courtroom has become the main aisle for the wedding and a ballroom has been made inside a carved-out cavern now. I believe that the only things that are left to do are greet the guests the day of, and perform the wedding,” Azazel reports. He can’t hide his grin. His new king had done a great job at making sure that the wedding was going to go off without a hitch despite half of the marriage being in a mental plane of existence. 

Lucifer stares at Azazel for a long second. “Are you telling me that Dean has managed to plan the whole wedding?”

“First time a demon dared to question his authority, he turned to me and asked what you’d do. When I pointed out that you’d just obliterate his soul from existence, he just shook his head. He told the demon that he didn’t have the power to do that. Demon started laughing, then Dean turned to your brother, and said ‘good thing that my brother-in-law can’. Demon got obliterated and the rest learned that pissing Dean off was no better than pissing you off. Dean hasn’t just planned out your entire wedding. He’s also made the demons of hell start respecting him.”

Lucifer grins. Of course, the man he’s to marry wouldn’t just be a damsel in distress until he got back, that would go against his very nature.

Dean pushes open the door to see Lucifer awake. He runs over and throws his arms around the angel’s neck. He doesn’t care whether the others in this room judge him for it. He’s happy that his fiancé managed to wake up before the actual wedding day. 

Lucifer wraps one arm around Dean and picks him up to set him on the chair with him. “Heard you’ve been terrifying some demons in my stead and making sure the wedding goes off without a hitch.”

Dean drops his head to lean on Lucifer’s shoulder. “That I have been. My brother a demon now?”

“For better or for worse,” Adam replies. 

Dean glances over at Adam with his black eyes and releases a low chuckle. “Then, you should probably go get acquainted with some of the other demons today. They should all be in the ball room, we’re attempting to make sure the room has proper tables around the ballroom floor for a banquet.”

Azazel turns his eyes in between the two lovers before nodding his head to Dean. “Might I presume that I am meant to go with him and provide a buffer from some of the lesser demons?”  
“That would be a wise assumption. When one of the larger demons chooses to antagonize him, let him throw the punch first before glaring them into submission.”

“As you command.” Azazel rises and offers a hand to pull Adam off the bed. He kind of tugs Adam from the room as he has no desire to be in the room as the two people may or may not tell each other new secrets tonight. He doesn’t want to be in the middle of that, and he’s extremely grateful that King Dean had given him a way out that still seemed respectful. 

Lucifer waits until the two demons are down the hall before turning to Dean. “I swear I think some of my demons might like you more than me.”

“I wouldn’t say that. Azazel would still kill me if you told him to, he’d just also be sad. You command respect and fear, both needed for royalty. I command respect and love, also important fro a healthy reign.”

Lucifer shakes his head. “You have your dash of fear as well. You killed two demons while I was busy trying to accomplish making a new demon.”

Dean pushes up so that he can stare at Lucifer. “Do you really want to try to analyze the political structures of our personalities when it comes to ruling, or do you want to talk to me as your fiancé?”

Lucifer reaches up to cup Dean’s cheek. The man was right. He didn’t want to worry about all of the politics, he wanted to trust that Dean managed to take care of all of that so he can just worry about the man he promised to marry. “Your brother accidently told me a secret because I was in his head.”

“The one where I’m in love with you. I’m not sure that actually counts as a secret. I wasn’t trying to hide those emotions from you, I just wasn’t able to say the words yet,” Dean counters softly. 

“What changed?”

“Insecurities tend to die down once you have a empire to command because the one you love is trapped in a different plane of existence trying to make sure your little brother becomes a demon, so that you and your fiancé can start a war against God’s plan for the universe.”

Lucifer laughs. That might be the truest statement that he’s ever heard. Every part of their plan relies on the complete insanity of no one else being bold enough to even try most of the things that he’s suggesting they do. “Don’t forget the plan to reform hell, and free my aunt, the sister of god.”

“No, it wouldn’t do to forget those. Not to mention that we’ll probably have to save all of humanity from God’s wrath and manage to keep ourselves alive. Plus, that side quest to possibly reform heaven as well,” Dean teases. 

Lucifer smiles. “I’m glad you haven’t changed your mind.”

“I don’t think that much of anything in this world or the next could stop this version of me from loving this version of you. We’ve decided to go down this path, now we get to survive on it. Now, what do you say we go back to our room and sleep before waking up in the morning on the day before our wedding to finish last minute details?”

Lucifer stands up his arms catching Dean in a bridal carrying fashion as he walks down the hallways. “You’re a bad influence. I’m not even considering holding court the first second I’m back to the normal realm.”

Dean lands on the bed when Lucifer tosses him and tucks himself under the covers. “That’s not a bad influence. It just proves that you haven’t actually cared about your own sanity and comfort before. Not to worry though, I’ll make sure that you continue thinking about yourself.” After, he finishes that sentence, a yawn escapes him. 

Lucifer lays down next to Dean although he lays on top of the covers. The additional heat won’t help him fall asleep tonight. “When was the last time that you slept?”

“I try really hard to convince the demons to let me sleep every other day, but they’re all used to supernatural beings that don’t need to sleep nearly as frequently as I do.”

Lucifer runs a hand through Dean’s hair. “Sleep then.” His eyes fall closed after that although he keeps his hands moving in a simple pattern down Dean’s back. His breathing evens out long before Dean’s does as his magic actually takes the excuse to get some decent rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know when the next chapters will be up. I have two exams this week then finals next week. I'm drowning in tests. :)


	24. The Meeting of the Fiance's family #2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An angel arrives and some revelations are made about the way that God definitely screwed over all of his children.

Dean pushes the covers off of him, the second he wakes up enough. He figures the sleeping form next to him happens because of the massive amount of power it must take to convert someone to a demon inside their own head. Even if Lucifer has to sleep all the day away, Dean can make sure this wedding will happen without flaws. 

“Not sleeping. I told you that angels don’t sleep. I’m just recharging most of my energy by remaining motionless with my eyes closed,” Lucifer drawls. 

“Well us humans would call that sleeping.”

“Don’t dream, thus I cannot sleep. Brain never truly turns off, it just stops intaking information processing.”

Dean shakes his head. “You should stop by Gabriel to look at your wedding outfit in case you want to make any last-minute changes. I trusted him not to make you wear something completely ridiculous, but that is a little bold with him being a trickster angel.”

Lucifer nods. “Yes, I suppose that would be a good use of my time. Your family that will be attending the wedding, how are they getting here? Has that already been prepped? It feels weird not being on top of everything.”

“Feels weird being the one with all the answers for once. My family will arrive later today. Azazel is going to go get them around the middle of the afternoon once they’re all up and look like they could be ready to meet my fiancé, who happens to be the king of an entire realm. All kinds of crazy, right? He’s probably keeping a close eye on everyone for the moment.”

A smile crosses his lips. Dean will have to get used to the feeling of having all the answers for everyone in short order. Being a king means to always have the answers the people might be looking for on the tip of your tongue, no matter how much you might want to run and hide instead. “Good. Does Gabe really think that Rafael will show up the wedding?”

Dean shrugs. From his conversations with the archangel everything was a game of chance. Either one of them could look into the future to see which path seems the most likely that they’re set on now that they’ve announced the wedding, but neither of them want to do so probably afraid of what they might find. “He’s the strongest contender if someone else from the family does arrive on your side, but I wouldn’t call him confident in that, more like he’s willing to suggest the possibility knowing that it is possible now.”

Lucifer buries his head. “Even he doesn’t think my older brother will come.”

Dean reaches over and grasps Lucifer’s shoulder. “Maybe he’ll be wrong. Maybe, Michael will prove all of us wrong. Hell, maybe God will show up with well wishes for the grooms.”

Lucifer giggles rolling over to press himself into Dean’s arms. “I don’t think we want God to show up with well wishes unless you’ve gotten much better at lying to yourself,” he comments. 

Dean tightens the grip that Lucifer gave him. He’s never met someone more willing to turn the page into something else so quickly, but perhaps the cost of knowing what’s been happening for eternity. “What lie? I love you, and I fell in love with you as you saved me from the torture of hell that God abandoned me to.” 

“Pretty sure, you made that deal all on your own, no help needed.” A tease designed to see whether Dean would get defensive even with the man he claims to love or whether he’d tighten the grip he held just a bit harder and do the wedding night just a day early. 

Dean bites down the immediate response to shout that he couldn’t let Sammy just die, but that would have been the smarter choice. Then, he leans over to kiss Lucifer’s jaw with just a brief press of his lips. “Same way you didn’t need any help torturing the guilty.”

Lucifer wants to know whether he can push Dean into biting down on his neck just by pushing buttons, but he also figures that Dean might give him that on his own, if he begs prettily enough. “Dean,” he starts, when a loud bang comes from the door.

Lucifer pushes himself up to deal with whichever demon was impertinent enough to knock on the king’s door before they’ve left the area on their own. They must have gotten restless over his time in Adam’s head. Dean wouldn’t automatically know all the issues he has with people coming to the door.

“King Dean, there’s a new archangel in the ballroom demanding to speak to the grooms,” Crowley shouts. There’s a chance that both kings were in there, but he just needed one of them to deal with the situation right away. 

Dean jumps out of the bed and slicks his hair back behind his head. He barely pauses to glance at Lucifer. He’s a king of this realm now too, and he’s been dealing with these issues alone for a couple months now, he’s used to being woken up by Crowley with random demands that Lucifer would be able to sense before they brew. “Crowley, protocol two.”

Crowley snaps so that whatever clothes the human wore to bed would immediately be cleaned and transported to the closet and a proper suit appear on him. The human can’t use magic himself, so when time is of the essence, he does the magic for Dean as commanded. Protocol one means that he’s dressed and simply needs Crowley to teleport them both, protocol two means to dress Dean in the proper attire and walk him to the area that needs him, and protocol three means to both dress Dean and teleport them to the correct location.

Lucifer pauses to just stare at Dean with wide eyes. The sleepy human that was playfully responding to his teases was replaced by someone who could rival some of the more prominent royals from human history. He didn’t even pause once he heard Crowley’s voice and emergency, just gave a brief command that seems to have given him all the power that he needs to survive the situation.

Dean lets his eyes drag over Lucifer before shaking his head. “Unless you want to appear to your brother in sweatpants, you might want to change your outfit before we walk out into that hallway,” he says. He almost recedes back into his shell, but he holds strong. If Lucifer doesn’t like how he leads his people, they can have that conversation at a time that doesn’t currently have an archangel potentially pissing off multiple demons, and whatever the hell Gabriel’s response would be to one of his brothers appearing in hell. 

Lucifer waves his hand and his normal courtroom attire settles over him. He pauses then wraps an arm around Dean’s waist and pushes open the door. “Crowley,” he says. 

Crowley bows not just for one of his kings but both. “My apologies, King Lucifer, I would have included you in my previous address if I had known you were present in the room.”

Before Lucifer can point out that the rooms are his, Dean is leading them all down the hallway towards where the angel is waiting. “As much as I’m sure the three of us would love to start asking the question about which one’s rules cover the others, and whether I’ve been bold in my assumptions as King, we do not have the time to deal with that right now, we have an archangel in our ballroom, who wishes to see the kings, so let’s get a move on boys,” he snaps. 

Lucifer’s fingers itch, but rather than the normal itch to blow up the first thing that dares to speak to him as an equal, it wants to reach out to grab the hand swinging at Dean’s side and lace their fingers together. He’s never had that response to someone wanting to take power from him. Then, he supposes that Dean isn’t trying to take his power, he’s trying to share the power and the burden. He gives in to the itch and catches Dean’s hands as his legs match Dean’s brisk pace. 

Crowley trails behind a respectful distance. He admits that he’d prefer the rules that Dean had just suggested so that he knew when he would be overstepping bounds and hopefully wouldn’t get himself killed for his troubles, but his king was correct, the archangel had to be dealt with.

The second they entered the ballroom; Lucifer drops Dean’s hands to run forward where his brother stands. He hasn’t seen Rafael in ages, and while he’s seen one of his little brothers recently, the other one still pulls at his heartstrings. His arms wrap around Rafael in a hug.

Rafael pauses a moment. After the letter, he expected Lucifer to be emotional when seeing him, but not to actually attempt physical affection. That’s unusual behavior for the angel. Still his arms return the hug. “Brother, I figured you wouldn’t want the person officiating the wedding to wait to show up until the day of the wedding.”

Lucifer pulls back to stare at his brother as a grin spreads across his face. “You are willing to wed us.”

Rafael offers Lucifer a slight shrug. “Assuming I don’t hate the man you’ve chosen to marry once I meet him, yes. The heavens have felt father’s anger at the idea of the wedding, so I can guarantee you, he won’t show up to marry you.”

As Lucifer’s face falls slightly, because while he’ll be the first to admit that he doesn’t want to deal with his father at the wedding, he still had the hope that his happiness would matter slightly to his father. Dean steps forward. “Hello, I would address you by name, but alas as brothers my fiancé hasn’t actually told me which one you are. I am Dean Winchester, the second king of hell, and the righteous himself.” He offers a hand.

Rafael regards the human for a moment, before shaking the offered hand. “I am Rafael, one of the four archangels. I could give you the rest of my titles, but we would be here for the rest of the afternoon.”

Dean inclines his head. “I suppose we can skip that then.”

Rafael turns to Lucifer with a questioning look. “You’ve let him rule, the demons do not move as he introduced himself as the second king of hell. You’re willing to share your throne with a human that you’ve known for a limited time.”

Lucifer smiles and walks over to Dean. His arm lands around Dean’s shoulders, tugging him closer, which Dean allows without any resistance. “Why wouldn’t I? This is my throne and my life. If I love this man, surely, I would want him by my side when it comes to ruling, not to mention, this way I don’t need to worry about who rules hell if I try to leave or convert demons.”

Rafael eyes widen in shock at that question. The angel he used to know would have never even considered that loving someone would mean that they had any right towards the demons under his rule, nor his choices about family. “The person who fell from heaven never would have believed that love would matter.”

“Yet the angel that grew up with us, braided our hair, would. Yet the angel, that we never saw because we stayed away for thousands of years, would. The angel standing in front of you is not the same one who fell, just like the angel who fell wasn’t the angel that helped raise us,” Gabriel points out as he enters the ballroom. His fingers tap against his leg wondering what Rafael’s response to his presence.

Rafael runs over to Gabriel and picks him up in a bone crushing hug. Tears filling his eyes. “Little brother, I didn’t think I’d see you again after you ran away,” he whispers. 

“You wouldn’t of if it wasn’t for Dean Winchester saying yes. I was running away from the God that was willing to send one of us to hell without even pausing to see whether he could get better. I couldn’t bring myself to come here and find out I was wrong. But Dean Winchester convinced our brother to try to reach out, and I answered. Don’t get me wrong, Raf, I’m happy to see you, but I can see in your eyes that you think this was my work, and it wasn’t.”

Rafael turns back to Dean Winchester, the person in the room that he was most willing to overlook in favor of all the other powerful beings in the room with new eyes. “How?”

“He was sad because I was inviting all of the people who love me unconditionally, because all of you gave up on him. I pointed out, that I’d be terrified to go against the God, even for someone I loved. I would, don’t get wrong, I will stand in front of God for my husband, for my brother, for my uncle, and quite possibly for Gabriel at this point. But you were young, for angels, and your father was all powerful. I told him, he owed to himself to find out whether if he offered you a chance to learn to know him again, that you might just surprise him,” Dean explains. He’s honestly impressed that his voice didn’t break in that moment, or that the half-lie doesn’t choke him as he speaks it. The initial reason that Lucifer agreed was because he needed them to believe that they were in love.   
Rafael falls to his knees with tears rolling down his face by the end of that speech. 

Gabriel stares at that sight with shock, he didn’t even expect his brother to flinch, why the hell is he broken in 30 seconds while Dean told them the truth. Surely, Rafael hadn’t believed that this wasn’t a real situation. 

Lucifer takes another step and kneels down next to his brother and draws him into his arms. “Sh, sh, don’t worry. I’ve forgiven you, I forgave you long ago, I just didn’t think I could handle reaching for you first, Dean reminded me that if I’m truly asking you to defy God, I should probably take the first step.”

Dean walks forward towards the demons snickering around the edges of the room. “This is a family moment, leave,” he orders. 

Lucifer glances up expecting the demons to fight him almost immediately, but instead he watches the demons file from the room. He stares at his fiancé, who stands in front of the doors, moving the stragglers out. He places Crowley right next to the door with a smile, before walking back to them. 

“Sorry, I didn’t want them to continue trying to read into weaknesses based on the issues of a family that has been separated for far too long because of a God that couldn’t care less about the individuals and just stares at the whole.”

Rafael stares up at Dean through his tears. “I don’t think you like my father much.”

“I don’t think you like him either. I think you’re on your knees crying right now, because you’ve realized that you trusted your dad’s word over your own opinions. Now you know you could have had your brothers this whole time, but you didn’t because you were willing to trust the man who created you,” Dean states. 

Rafael turns to Lucifer to bury his head in the man’s chest. “I’m sorry.”

“You are forgiven, little brother. Father wanted me to be separated from all of the rest of you, so that he could use me to trap Aunt Amara. He needed you to think that I went evil of my own accord, because the only other choice that he had was to admit that the only way to trap Amara was to give someone the urge to massacre people.”

Rafael pulls himself up wiping off his own tears. “Yet you found love”

Lucifer turns and reaches a hand out to Dean. He’s not surprised when Dean catches his hand and squeezes. “I didn’t just find love. I found someone who was willing to believe me even though God told him not to. I found someone who was willing to stand up to our father for me. That means more to me than he could ever know, yet he gives that to me without asking for anything else.”  
Dean wraps an arm around Lucifer stepping closer. “You don’t owe me for being willing to prove my love for you in a semi-insane act of defiance.”

Crowley had fully planned on staying silent until the family moment was done, because he had no plans to get in the middle of the family drama in the room. He has some self-preservation skills, which involve not drawing the attention of three emotional archangels, but Azazel happens to be outside the door with Dean’s family, who all want to see Dean at this very second. He hates his life some days. This is definitely one of those days. “King Dean, your family is outside the doors demanding to see you.”

“Bloody hell, I couldn’t get a single moment between family meetings. That’s perfect, truly Crowley, perfect. Lucifer, do you want your brothers here to do a family meeting where we introduce all of the families together?”

“Your family, your choice,” Lucifer answers automatically. He can tell that Rafael is torn between standing up so that the other humans don’t see his weakness, or staying right where he is in his brother’s arms now that he knows that the statements about his darkness were exaggerated. 

Dean stares at the angel for a moment, before turning to Crowley. “Let them in, but if any of them try to attack anyone, take them down.”

Crowley bows, then opens the door to allow the humans into the ballroom. His eyes stay focused on the woman named Ellen. She seems the most likely to actually try to attack someone as soon as she understands that Dean actually cares for the people in this room.


	25. The Meeting of the Fiance's family # 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean's side of this dysfunctional family unit shows up. Now there's time for some people to learn that their mouths need to be glued shut or someone is going to die.

Sam enters the room first to see Gabriel in the room. “I’m glad you decided to give your brother a chance.” A gentle gesture hoping to defuse some of the tension in the room. He doesn’t think the humans have much of a chance if this comes down to a fight. 

Then, he turns to Dean. A smile crosses his face as he notices the confidence in Dean’s posture. He’s never seen his brother so happy in the situation. Maybe, after everything this would end up being good. “Missed you.”

Dean drops Lucifer’s hand similar to his actions earlier to walk across the room. His arms surround his giant little brother in a bear hug. “Missed you too. Let me introduce you to the family.”

Sam blinks. He didn’t expect Dean to call the angels family. He certainly didn’t see that coming after so little after they left him here for such a tiny amount of time. This didn’t even seem like the type of thing that Dean would do. 

Dean releases Sam to clasp Bobby’s shoulder. Then, he turns to Ellen and hugs her in a soft embrace with his mouth next to her ear. “Don’t worry, I’m not being forced to do anything. I just found out that happiness sometimes doesn’t follow the normal progression that all of us would prefer,” he whispers. 

Jo jumps on to Dean, and he catches her at the last second and spins her around the room before setting her down and stepping back from his family. “Crowley, go get the two stragglers of my family to drag them in here, so I can do introductions properly.”

Another bow as the demon leaves the room almost immediately.

Bobby can’t quite manage to hide his cough. “Sorry, boy, but I would have thought that Lucifer would need to give the orders before any of the demons would even consider listening to the wishes of a human.”

Lucifer laughs. He can’t blame them for believing that Dean would have no power, but that was so far from the truth, that its humorous. “Dean is the other king of hell. The demons answer to his commands almost as swiftly as they answer to mine.”

Dean shakes his head. “I suppose I’ll give introductions in portions. No offense but everyone here knows who you are either by meeting you previously or by magic. Other than Adam, but he’s one of the demons that I’m having Crowley go grab. The one who just told you I was a king of hell, is the magnificent Lucifer. The king of hell, and my fiancé. The angel I ended up falling in love with when I was supposed to be being tortured.”

Lucifer pushes himself off the ground and away from the brother that he would much prefer to stay with rather than deal with a bunch of humans, who almost want to kill him. He offers a light bow just to show respect before reaching Dean and tugging him into an embrace. “It is nice to meet you all in person.”

Ellen bares her teeth, although she stays right where she is. “If you hurt my boy, I will find a way to kill you. God’s first child or not.”

Lucifer turns to Dean with a tilted head. “How come I’m the one that gets the shovel talk first? One of my brothers has been here for months, he could have at least pretended to be willing to threaten you,” he teases. 

“You’re the troublemaker in this relationship, Lucifer. That’s alright though, Ellen, I’ll kill myself.” Dean shakes his head but leans into the embrace that Lucifer is still giving him. 

Sam leans over and holds Ellen back from saying anything further. He would prefer to talk to Dean alone to catch up on the things that they’ve missed. He knows the plan was to pretend to be in love, but at this point he’s pretty sure that the way Dean holds himself isn’t an act, that if Lucifer asked him to kill the people standing in front of him that he wouldn’t consider it. 

“Right, well the brother that has been here for a couple months and has been absolutely vital in planning the wedding that will be happening tomorrow, would be Gabriel. He’s the one standing off to the side, leaning on a pillar.”

Gabriel gives a wave. Honestly, he appreciates the fact that Dean is trying to patch up the differences between the two families so that both of them could have many different people. “Heya, most of you do know me. Only you know me as a trickster god, not an archangel of the lord. Just you know letting you know that I am actually both. Eternity gets boring after a while, and I don’t do well with boredom.”

“No pranking the wedding,” both Lucifer and Dean snap at the same time.

Gabriel puts is hands in the air as a typical surrender. The two of them make such a wonderful pair, if only he could convince the rest of the family that. “As you can see the couple to be actually has a good grip on me for making sure I behave at least momentarily.”

Sam turns to stare at the archangel. “Are you telling me you’re actually going to behave just because they told you too?”

“No, I’m telling you I’m going to behave because Dean asked me to. If Lucifer asked alone, I probably would have made some kind of deal for good behavior because that’s what we did when we were younger and I’d want to cause some amount of nostalgia in our interactions after all of our time apart.”

Bobby stares for a moment, then shakes his head. “If you wouldn’t bother behaving for your own brother at his wedding why would the groom be any different.”

“Because the groom is the only reason any of the rest of us even have a chance to be here, and surprisingly that makes us more prone to follow his requests, to repay him for giving us back our brother,” Rafael comments, pulling himself to his feet and standing next to both Dean and Lucifer. 

“That would be the other archangel currently in our mix, Rafael. He’s been in heaven for most of the separation, so don’t be surprised if he’s judgmental, I hear that comes naturally for them.”

Rafael laughs at Dean’s comment. The way the words don’t even sound remotely judgmental themselves, just a statement of fact to make sure the others don’t blame him for things that he doesn’t really control. “I can assure you that as of this moment, Dean, that your soul will never belong in heaven.”

Dean joins in on the laughter. “Could it be because I happen to be the king of hell?”

“You know, bestie, that sounds like a proper reason to damn your soul,” Crowley drawls, stepping into the throne room with Adam and Azazel behind him, although Azazel was carefully making it to where none of the humans could see his face for the moment. 

Dean smiles over to the demons. “That would be Crowley, he’s a bit rough around the edges, but Lucifer and I trust him like family, which makes him family.”

Jo stares at Dean, then whips her eyes around to Crowley. “You, a Winchester, trust a demon.”

“Me, a Winchester, Dean to be precise, trust three demons specifically. Those three, the ones that have helped me ever since I got promoted. Also, you know, I’m the king of hell, Jo. I can’t just go around stabbing my subjects. That’s not how this works.”

Ellen eyes the demons closely and catches a glimpse of yellow from behind Crowley where Azazel is. “One of them is the demon that killed your mother.”

“Ah, Azazel. Yes, I suppose in the strictest interpretation of facts, Azazel was the one that killed mom.”

“What interpretation are you using, boy?” Bobby growls. He takes a lot of shit from the boys, but if Dean is about ready to claim that someone else killed Mary, he’s going to have to lay down some law.

“That Mary killed Mary. That mom decided while pregnant with me, that her boyfriend, not even husband yet, was more important than her second child. She chose to trade dad’s life for Sam’s freedom. Sammy would have still been with us. He would have been fed demon blood, converted into an even more perfect vessel for Lucifer, and I’d probably be a body suit for Michael right now. But that didn’t happen, instead mom chose to try to play god, she tried to break a deal with a prince of hell. You don’t win fights like that, Bobby, you just die. Mom knew the price when she made the bargain, just like I knew the price of my bargain, only instead of being like Mom where I tried to back down from the deal, I accepted my ending,” Dean explains, keeping his voice soft. He knows that these words will hurt the people in front of them, but they’re important things to say.

“You fought, Dean.” Sammy shakes his head. 

“I fought against death, that’s natural. Mom didn’t fight against death, she fought against the deal. If I had tried to argue with the hell hounds that I still belonged in heaven, then I would have been fighting the deal, but I didn’t.”

Ellen sighs. The sound is low and pained, and she hates herself for letting it escape, but she knows how Dean feels, and she knows that his interpretation is completely valid. This is the way the world works, and sometimes the world isn’t fair about when it collects payments for its due. “Bobby, Dean’s right. Mary made the choice to go up against a demon after making a deal with it, that’s on her.”

“Demon could have decided not to offer a deal.”

Lucifer stares at Bobby for a long moment. “I always thought you were the smart one in the gang. Demons will always offer a deal if you have something that you’re willing to trade for. Whether you take that deal or not, that’s on you. But demons are simple in that since, they’ll always follow the proper order in the world. They don’t ask first, but they always have an offer.” 

Ellen nods. “You forgot about Ash, who literally lives in my bar, and never stops figuring out random facts.” 

Lucifer turns to regard Ellen with a lighter gaze before letting some of the air in his throat come out in a sigh, rather than scream. He inclines his head. “I should not snap at any of you. You do not have the same experience as any of the people on my side of the family, or that of Dean. I apologize.”

Dean reaches out to grab hold of Lucifer’s hand and squeezes. His fiancé hates apologizing because that reminded him too much of the way that God kept trying to command him to bow. He turns to Bobby almost willing the man who was the better father to him to accept this and return the favor.

“Suppose I ought to be sorry to. I don’t like the idea of any of my boys shacking up with demons, let alone the one that killed their mother,” Bobby offers. 

Azazel steps forward, just barely to be closer to Dean’s side before dropping to his knees. He offered this once for Dean, and he’ll offer it to the rest of the family. He wonders what the correct words were for such an offer. 

Dean’s other hand drops down to Azazel’s neck and pushes down. He will not let the demon offer to pay for crimes that he didn’t commit. Azazel might feel regret for hurting someone he cared about, but he had done the correct action at the time, and no one was going to punish him for that. “You’re right to worry, Bobby, but I’m telling you that this demon is a part of my family. I’m telling you point blank that I’ve chosen to make him one of mine, and I won’t let you hurt him.”

“Idjit. Alright, I’ll leave the demon alone for the wedding, but do me a favor, never send him to come get me again.”

Dean smiles. “That’ll be fine. I can send Crowley or the final demon in our family. Everybody meet Adam, dad’s third soon.”

Adam steps up and barely refrains from rolling his eyes. That was the most terrible introduction of the person who should be a member of both families even before the wedding. He waves trying to defuse some of the tension. 

“Your solution to being reminded that we had another brother,” Sam yells before Crowley cut him off with a wave of magic starting at Dean with terror. 

Dean bites down on his lip to stop himself from starting to cuss. Damn his brother for not remembering the need for secrecy. Damn them for inviting people that shouldn’t know the whole truth. And damn himself for not telling all the members of his family in hell the truth before they got here.

Rafael’s eyes flicker between them for long moments. He knows this is the point where he should do exactly what he told Lucifer he was going to do. He should try to poke to find out what the full plan was and then plot to stop it, but he won’t. He won’t betray his brother a second time, not without at least be willing to hear him out. 

“Gabriel, help me put up a shield that neither Michael nor dad can get through and that doesn’t look suspicious to them,” he asks softly. He’ll give an out to Lucifer, to tell him to back off and stop doing this. 

Lucifer’s head snaps to stare at Rafael, because that almost sounds like a plea. That sounds like he’s asking for permission to be trusted. That would be a dangerous thing to do. This could actually destroy them, yet he wants to tell everyone in this room the full truth. The best way to become a family is to have a family secret, and he doesn’t want to do this alone. 

Dean’s hand slips out from his and he leans his entire body on Lucifer’s. “Tell me what we’re doing. Tell me what you need me to do. Whatever you need.”

“I’ll help raise the shield. Dean, go command every single demon in listening range to leave the vicinity, and that if they don’t, I will make them wish that God had come to the wedding.”

Dean smirks as he steps back. “Don’t worry about that love, I have plenty of threats of my own to work with.” He heads out to take care of that for a moment. The second he’s in the hallway there are many demons crowding around. 

His lips curl up into a grin. Right now, he’s pissed off at fate, at himself, at his brother, and at God for the hundredth time. One of them actually challenging him today would be welcome. “Leave. Get far enough that you can’t hear anything, and maybe you’ll get lucky enough that neither Lucifer or I will ask questions about why you were still so close.”

“Or what?” a brave little crossroads demon snaps stepping forward. 

“Or I’ll make you wish that death could still take your soul. I will rip your skin from your limbs, let you heal, then feed you your own flesh, before ripping it off of you again. I will pull your eyes from your sockets without breaking the nerves, so that you can see as a saw off your dick with a rusty spoon. I will make sure that no one knows what your name was, and I will laugh when you cry. You thought Lucifer was a bad angry, he was still your creator, he still had some compassion. Not much, not enough to let you get away with things, but enough that he never made you crave to beg him for death. I will make you do that,” Dean hisses.

The demons run from the room, and he knows that once upon a time he’d have thrown up at the fact that he even dared to say those words. Now, he knows that he would make them hurt. He walks back in to see the angels linking hands.

Gabriel focuses on an image that makes it seem like the angels and humans and demons are bickering at each other’s necks but back off anytime the grooms seem upset. Almost like they were trying to patch fences, but that none of them thought that it would last. 

Lucifer puts the brute power of the shield. He may not be the greatest at realistic facades, but he’s got enough power to give both of his brother’s enough of a boost that they would withstand a basic amount of inspection from both God and Michael. 

Rafael creates a bubble around the room. Nothing would be able to leave the illusion, nothing said would be heard by those outside the circle, nothing would be leave unless someone chose to betray the people in this room. 

Slowly they look around and nod. Lucifer steps forward. “We’re safe here for now. Time to explain some things, a lot of things. For those of you that don’t already have any of the information, you still have either mine or Dean’s love, or perhaps you are one of the few who has both. We were planning on keeping the circle of knowledge as small as possible so that people weren’t in danger. I think we’ve passed the point where you could get off though.”


	26. The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, now that we have a found family, we need to tell them the truth. Welcome to try telling way too many personalities that they're going to reform hell and take down God.

Dean glances around the room, then turns to Crowley. “Release, Sammy. Sammy, don’t you dare speak until both Lucifer and I have said our bit. You are not one of the members of this relationship, you are someone I trusted and right now you’ve already pretty much assured me that was the wrong choice, so do me a favor and at least pretend to be apologetic about it.”

Crowley waits until Dean’s done speaking, then he slowly drops the magic that was capturing Sam’s voice. He hopes that he didn’t overstep his bounds, but he figures that if he’s the one in the wrong, Dean will wait until they’re alone before punishing him.

Sam snaps almost immediately once being free. “If you wanted me to be quiet than you should have found a better plan than turning our baby brother into a demon.”

Dean’s eyes flash, not with the black or red or white of the demons and angels, but with a showing of the darkness that the rack gave him. He could have been a demon. That was a path that could have been led down, the only reason it didn’t was because of Lucifer, or in the other world because of Cas. “You will sit down, and you will shut up.”

Lucifer’s eyes flicker over at everyone else. “Everybody else should probably sit down and form a circle. We’re going to be sharing a lot of information, and I don’t really want to deal with any other problems until we’re done.”

Everyone sits down in a circle, even Sam, although he’s more dragged down by Jo, than willing sitting on the floor. Once there, they all turn to the couple sitting in the middle. 

Lucifer leans over to Dean to whisper in his ear. “I don’t know when you’ll have a chance to fix this, but Crowley is worried he overstepped and that you will punish him. Do something about that after we finish this heart to heart.”

Dean relaxes minutely. He thought Lucifer might be about to ask him to lie, and he would have had to ignore the request. “Already have a plan to handle that about halfway through my part speaking. You should probably start though, since you have more information about most of the start. I have more of the how we became a family.”

Lucifer lets out a breath and turns to face all of the people in the circle. “I’ll start the story at the beginning, and I suppose this time no matter what I’m not going to skip any details, but at any point if you have a question, interrupt me.”

Sam pauses then turns to Dean with the epic bitch face. “Is he claiming that you didn’t tell us the truth because I will actually revoke any support for that?”

Dean sighs. “I told you as much information as I had at the time. But at that point, I barely had the devil’s trust, now I have my fiancé’s heart. Trust me, I know more now, than then, but I’ve been a bit busy ruling hell to be able to come talk to you guys about the additional information. I believe Crowley offered to enter the safe room and tell you more.”

Crowley nods automatically. “I did offer that. They said they had no business trusting demons.”

Bobby shrugs unapologetic. “Can’t blame the hunters for being less than perfect when it comes down to trusting demons.”

Dean shakes his head. “That’s why we’re going to try to clear the air, here and now, with every single but of truth that we’ve got, so that all of you can decide where you are on either side of the battle coming. Because, all of you have proven to be our family. Some of you more recently than others, but you’re family, and you deserve to know what we’re planning, and how you can help. On the off chance that you actually choose to help us.”

Gabriel lets out a soft chuckle. “What will you do, Dean Winchester, if someone in this room refuses to help you?”

“Beg them to at the very least stay neutral in the war, and to keep the knowledge they have to themselves.”

Azazel glances up, following Dean’s eyes. He knows the sad truth of the matter that if they were willing to betray them, that either kings of hell would kill them. He knows that it would break both of them to have to kill someone they loved, but neither of them would even hesitate if it came down to the safety of most of the family, or the life of one. “My kings, my offer still stands.”

Lucifer shakes his head. “We couldn’t do that to you either, Azazel. We would pay the price, that is in and of itself the price of being kings.”

Sam softens slightly as he relaxes. “Fine, start your story.”

Lucifer pauses to rub his head. He could easily start with the story of how Dean and him got together, but that wouldn’t really be the beginning of the story. That was barely even the middle. That was more of a recent turning point honestly. “God created life, but balance must be preserved. Just as there was a creator, there was a destroyer. God’s sister, my aunt Amara, and the destruction of most living things.”

No one speaks. Not even the angels who have turned to him with shock written in their eyes. They may have expected him to start earlier than these last few months, but none of them thought he would start with the true beginning. 

“Then, God got lonely. Being one of two things that could speak, that could act, that could choose. He created his first children, the archangels. He gave them the most power that he could think of wanting more equals and children, rather than just children. The first of those children was Michael. Michael, the loyal, the defender. To this day I don’t think he’s ever gone against a direct order from God.”

Rafael scoffs. Nothing that was said there was untrue, but neither does it give Michael the right light. He’s never been a dog, loyal to a fault. More of a lost soldier, who needs orders to find his way out of the darkness. “He still hasn’t read your letter, but I made him promise to before he throws it into the fire. He may surprise you yet.”

Lucifer pauses his breathing goes uneven for a moment. There was a chance that he might still get his older brother at the wedding. He might still have a chance to mend that fence. Maybe even convince him to hear them out. 

Dean’s hand falls on his shoulder, grounding him in the moment. He’s never been more thankful that he convinced the man to agree to marry him for the sake of the world, because he’s not sure that he would have been able to go on without that push. He needs someone to remind him of the linear timeline. 

“The second angel was me. Lucifer, the morning star. There were rumors that my wings once held the greatest light in the universe, and while I could not tell you whether that was true, I can tell you that it is possible. Unlike my brother, even from an early age, I would question anything and everything. More often than not when we were younger, God didn’t answer me, but Aunt Amara would. She’d answer every single question that I ever asked her.”

Ellen looks up at that to regard his face. “You may call her an aunt, my boy, but she was your mother. For better or for worse, you love her.”

Gabriel reaches over and snatches her hand pulling her closer to him on the edge of the circle to whisper in her ear. “Don’t say things like that to us. Not yet. We haven’t gotten to the part of the story that will make you cry, but we will. The world has not been kind to God’s first children, because God is not a kind being.”

Lucifer nods at Gabriel, grateful that he would convince Ellen to wait until the end of this arc of the history before mentioning even more bits and pieces to the puzzle. “The third angel was Rafael. A little rough around the edges, but he was made to be intelligent, to crave books and higher knowledge.”

“I was meant to be the one who God could let talk his ear off and then improve anything he ever created,” Rafael added.

“The fourth angel was me. A trickster by nature. I was made to be the child that kept everyone together. No one could ever be mad at me for long, because the second they seemed to angry at my pranks, I’d offer to team up to help them torment whoever was bothering them at the moment,” Gabriel interjects. He has no desire to hear how Lucifer would have described the version of him that was so young back then. 

“Aunt Amara destroyed almost everything that God ever made, but we were the exception. She never came near us with any amount of anger. She knew that we were his children, and perhaps as Ellen mentioned, we were hers as well. Planets and stars, she’d take great pleasure in finding ways to unravel them with the very design that God made them by. We had fun watching as they both competed day in and day out. But that was never going to be enough.”

Lucifer notices that his hands are shaking, and he must admit at least to himself that he knows this next part makes all of the archangels seem a little bit evil. He chose the path that they walked down, and it was the wrong path, but he can’t undo the past. The only defense they have is that God was their creator, and that they were so very young. 

Dean reaches over to grab hold of his hand and hold him steady. A constant pressure that tells him that even if the others think he’s a monster after this, that Dean won’t. Dean knows the truth of what happened that night, and he knows that all of this is just crazy enough to cause people to doubt everything but his love. This should prove beyond a doubt that Dean loves him just because he won’t flinch away as he tells this story. That can be the one good thing that comes from this next confession. 

“God came to us one night. We all knew that Aunt Amara was the destroyer, and God hadn’t made anything in a long while. He told us that because he was in a lull of finding things that he wanted to create, that Amara was planning on coming to kill us. The way he told it, she had a need to destroy, and anytime he had a lull like this she’d come after the living things. We should have checked. We should have been brave enough to go ask Aunt Amara, but we weren’t. We didn’t question him. He told us we had to trap her, confine her, so that the creations he made could live. So, we did what he said. We locked her up.”

Sammy snaps his jaws together as a glare levels itself straight at Lucifer, then turns to give the other angels that same glare. “You mean to tell me that you lost your mother or aunt, whatever you prefer, because you killed her.”

“She’s not dead. Even God wouldn’t ask us to kill her,” Gabriel snaps.

“If only because killing her would lead to the destruction of everything, including him,” Rafael adds.

“You’re trying to convince me that’s somehow better. How long have you kept her there? Did you ever even hesitate? Do you question it?” Sam screams. His anger loud and clear in his voice. The only thing the Winchester’s have ever put above all else is family. 

“Sammy, back down. You don’t know what this means. You never had to make choices like this. The rest of us have. Why do you think you’re the only one angry?” Dean almost wishes he had kept his family away because they will have to make these decisions.

Bobby glances up towards Dean. “Just cuz the rest of us aren’t screaming, don’t mean we like this any. The man you’re intending to marry just admitted to hurting someone he loved for millions of years now. Before this planet was created, for what?”

“For my father, for my life. All those things that might make it seem okay if I was human, but I’m not human, so you hold me to a different standard. I know that what happened there that day was wrong.”

Rafael swallows hard. He’s never even considered that day with that kind of questioning. He never asked himself whether Aunt Amara had loved them. He had accepted the story told to them by their father without question. The only one that had bothered wondering was Lucifer. “Finish the story, brother, or at least this part of it. They won’t understand until the tale is done. Until they know how you went from the archangel, Lucifer, to the devil, Satan.”

Lucifer nods. He glances back at Sam with his eyes holding back the tears. “Can you still listen?”

Sam offers a brief nod. He may not like the way the story has been going this, but he owes it to Dean to at least bother hearing the devil out, even if by the end of it, he’s trying to drag Dean out of here. 

“Aunt Amara’s cage couldn’t be restrained by normal magic. Something living had to keep a hold on her. A mark. The Christian’s call it the mark of Cain, but Cain was not the first being to wear the mark. No, God gave that task to me. The mark dulled her powers, because they gave all of her urges to the one holding it. For a long time, I was fine. I stayed away from anything living, even my brothers whom I loved so much, because living things made me crave to hurt them. The longer that I ignored the urges, the worse they got. By the time, God created humans, precious little humans, I was gone. I was lost in the desire to fill my hands with blood. So, I killed. I killed until the darkness coating at the edges of my brain faded to the point that I could breathe again.”

“You were cursed to start killing?” Azazel whispers. 

“Yes. I was an angel first, and I was happy as an angel. I didn’t become the king of evil by my own choice, I was forced.”

Dean freezes wondering what Azazel’s next words were going to be. He worships Lucifer, in every single action that he’s ever taken. This could be the moment that they lose his support, and Dean will have to be the one to kill him, because Lucifer will never be able to kill the person that he created, someone that is as much of a son to him as he should have been to God. 

“Then, we’re going to tell God to fuck right the hell off and prove that you’re not evil, right? King Dean, tell me you’re going to piss off God, please.”

“Oh, darling, we’re going do so much more than piss him off, we’re going to make him fucking terrified,” Dean drawls relaxing his position. He’s glad that the hatred for God that runs through the demons was strong enough to overcome the bias that they need to be evil.

Lucifer’s smile is genuine, something that surprises even him. “He threw down here, alone in a cage in the form of this kingdom. I still had the mark, and I suffered. I wanted to bring pain and destruction to everything. That’s when I made the first demon, because I couldn’t personally kill, torment, and make them suffer, but I could use others. I made my princes. My children. I’d like to claim that I was a better father than God, but I suppose those might just be empty hopes.”

Azazel shakes his head. “You gave us freedom to choose. Sure, most of us have spread out or in the case of Abaddon, have been banished by humans. But we love you, without any of the fear that God put in you. Most demons cower in front of you, but the princes, we know that you won’t kill us.”

Lucifer snorts as he leans into Dean for a moment before picking himself up. He’d have other questions about that for Azazel, but not for this meeting. Not when they’re actually trying to tell the story. “The Mark was given to Cain after he committed the first murder, because you know Dad wanted to punish him by making him kill more people. Perfect planning. Yet, despite the fact that he knew full well that I was cured, he didn’t let me go. He didn’t let me try to redeem myself. He told me I had created monsters and to live with them, so I did. I thought that it would be a thorn in his side, if I became evil.”

Rafael squeezes his eyes shut. “Are you telling me that the first time you ever actually chose to try to be the King of all evil was after God didn’t let you come home to us, your brothers after he finally found someone else to hold your curse?”

Dean nods in Lucifer’s place. The angel was walking on the dagger’s edge of losing all control and just sobbing in front of everyone in that room, so he’ll agree to do the answering of questions of the things that he knows. 

Rafael growls and lunges forward to cup Lucifer’s face, so that he couldn’t turn away and claim that this was okay. “He told us that you refused to come home, that you were happier making peace with the demons. He told us that you’d made a different choice.”

Gabriel sighs. “Well at least that proves one of my pet theories right. I never believed that you chose to stay away from us. You were the one that made sure that both Rafael and I slept through the nights after we were terrified that Aunt Amara would come from us. You taught us how to avoid God’s anger in the daylight yet provoke it at night. I left that day. I made it seem like I had a problem with the fact that he didn’t drag you home. They all believed that story.”

Lucifer turns in Rafael’s grip so that his eyes could find Gabriel’s in the crowd. “And I love you for it. You might have waited for me to make the first move, but you knew that I wasn’t evil. That’s more than enough.”

Rafael retreats slowly. His eyes flashing over to the humans. None of them seem to passing judgement at this time. One of the few smart things they’ve done in this conversation, because if they tried to blame his brother, he’d rip out their tongues. 

Lucifer almost calls his brother out on his thoughts right then but thinks better of it. He could more easily prevent the attack when it comes, then start at argument. “For a long time, I believed that being evil and defeating heaven’s forces in a battle between heaven and hell would change the tides of the world, upset God, get my revenge, and all that. Then, one day I decided to check, and I saw the universe that we went down if we continued down this path.”

Bobby nods. “Right, Dean’s told us that part of the story. Well me and Sammy. We can catch the girls up later.”

Dean’s eyes flash to Bobby’s in a moment of distaste. “Jo and Ellen aren’t the only ones who don’t know this part of the story, and all of you should hear it from Lucifer’s mouth since he’s the one who actually saw that universe.”

Lucifer flashes a quick smile at Dean. “Dean spills blood on hell, pretty soon after I intervened in the other universe. That starts the breaking of the seals that would allow me out of hell for the first time in thousands of years. Sammy eventually broke the last seal with encouragement from a demon named Ruby, she’s dead.”

Sammy pauses. “You killed the demon that was meant to corrupt me?” He honestly wouldn’t expect the devil to care about his sanity in either universe, let alone enough to kill one of the many demons that he actually prides himself on ruling fairly. 

Gabriel laughs out loud at Sam’s thoughts. The way that he followed the lines was so amusing that he couldn’t help himself. He would speak up to correct the boy, but he can’t stop laughing at how hilarious that was. 

“No, Sammy. Lucifer didn’t kill Ruby. Gabriel did on my orders. I think Azazel’s blade came pretty close to beating out Gabriel’s magic though. She did try to kill me,” Dean explains fighting back the urge to join Gabriel on his laughing spree from trying to have to explain this. 

Ellen turns to Dean. She would expect more grief from a man who just admitted to having to kill someone. “I’m a little surprised that you don’t sound broken up about the dead body now on your hands.”

“Ellen, we’re hunters. We’ve had dead beings on our hands since the beginning of our lives. My father made sure that my hands were never going to be pure, and despite the fact hat I tried to maintain as much morality as I could, I am a killer. So are you, so is Jo, and Bobby and Sam. All of us here have killed. The only person in this room who I don’t think has killed anyone yet is Adam.”  
Adam nods. “That’s true. I am in fact that the only one that hasn’t killed anyone in this meeting.”

Ellen just buries her face in her hands. Sure, they killed monsters in order to kill innocents, but they didn’t just have members of their court killed for trying to assassinate them, that sounded like something out a children’s book. 

“You humans all team up to stop the apocalypse. Adam gets possessed by Michael, Jo and Ellen get blown up. But you succeed against all odds, you stop the apocalypse. But Sam gets trapped in a confined location in hell with both me and Michael. Needless to say bad things ensure. The angel Castiel tries to save Sam, but can’t find his soul. That causes problems for a while. Then, the leviathans become a large threat. Stability world is at stake. You win again. Dean and Cas get trapped in purgatory. Sam moves on with his life. Kevin, who was under your protection, gets in trouble because Sam went back to a normal human life. Dean gets all pissed. Things between the brothers get rough. Sam starts a whole cycle of self-grief. Somewhere in this time period Bobby dies. I didn’t pay much attention to that, sorry. Not one of my problems. Dean gets the mark of Cain to kill one of my children, becomes a demon, and generally gets broken. He was going to let Death take him to an abandoned planet to keep him from killing people. Sam freaks out and tries to stop him. Dean kills death, because why wouldn’t the Winchester’s kill death. Amara gets free. She tries to kill God, but spare Dean. I think she has a soft spot for Dean. You win, patch up the relationship between Amara and God. I get extremely angry by this because God had finally agreed to forgive me if I helped him kill Amara, but then you Winchester’s saved her. I thought that was a betrayal. I had a son, Jack. Cas raised him with Sam and Dean, all of whom were different versions of abusive to my kid, thanks for that. Later, you found out there were alternative universes. Dean gives himself over to the other universe Michael to kill me,” Lucifer rambles, not allowing for any questions. He needs them to hear, but he also cannot possibly handle dealing with questions before he finished. 

“So bad future,” Jo points out.

Lucifer nods. “There were even worse universes where the Winchester’s didn’t win every impossible battle ever conceived.”

Bobby nods. “Right, that’s when you went to Dean.”

“A vent session where the person you’re yelling at can’t speak back, or move, and might possibly be willing to die if it would please you,” Dean teases Lucifer. 

Lucifer places a kiss on Dean’s forehead instead of teasing him back. “I made a plan. Well, I started a plan where the apocalypse never happens. Where I can walk on Earth without having all my powers. A plan where I marry the vessel of Michael, so that he can’t walk on Earth.”

Dean interrupts at that point. Because the rest of the plan and the story are his to tell. Lucifer started this whole plan, but he’s the one that the rest of this has been done for. “The rest of the plan was mine. Anyone have any questions before I start with the various portions of this plan, and they way that Lucifer and I fell in love along the way.”

Sam purses his lips to stare straight at Dean. He had a gut feeling that Dean actually had fallen in love with the devil. What he can’t tell is whether all of this was just Dean feeling like he owes the devil or not? That question wasn’t prepared yet. “Do you know what happens when we go down this path?”

Lucifer shakes his head. “We’ve never tried this one. We’ve never even come close to trying this universe. We might succeed in every single one of our goals, or we might actually crash and burn in such a spectacular fire that this universe is obliterated. We’re starting something new.”

Crowley glances up. He doesn’t really understand how the viewing of the future works for archangels, but he knows that the amount of paradoxes that exist happens to be way higher than most of the rest of the powers in the world. “Just one small question. Honestly, barely even a blip in the large picture, but now that we’ve started down this path, can’t the other archangels, theoretically see the beginning of this plan and realize what we’re doing?”

Rafael glances up to question that sentiment, because Crowley happens to be correct. The archangels could see that this universe has never actually existed before. Now that they’ve gone down it, this time, there could be other universes split off this path that chose different choices. “No one other than Gabriel and Lucifer use that power. Well, Aunt Amara used it frequently, but she can’t really do much right now because she’s still a bit trapped.”

Dean closes his eyes then opens them back up. “Well I wasn’t really planning on starting with this part of the plan, but you know, since you brought parts of it up, I should start there. We aren’t planning on letting Amara continue to rot in that emptiness. Or, at least we have the basis of a plan for that. We’re going to give me the mark, and we’ll use that to start the rest of the plans, and once we get closer to the major goal, we’re going to figure out how to free Amara.”

“Not meaning to be rude or anything Dean. Although, I definitely want to be, but what is the major goal? I thought the goal was to avoid ever going to the other universes timeline.” Sam’s bitchface makes another appearance. He hates being left out of the loop, and this feels like the people in hell have made many different plans for this situation.

“We’re going to stop God from being able to continue hurting the living, thinking creatures of this universe,” Dean answers.

Nods come from most of the circle, except from Rafael who just stares at them wide-eyed. “We’re going to take down God! That’s your plan. Just take down God.”

Lucifer leans back on his arms to stretch some of the muscles on this vessel. “Yes, we’re going to take down God. We don’t know how, and we don’t really have much of the plan for that portion of it, but we need to accomplish some other goals first.”

Azazel raises a hand to drag attention back to him rather than notice all of the other people in the room who seem either shocked or prepared for that end result. “Not to be the one to point out flaws in either of my king’s plans, what the hell are we going to do with the urges that Dean will have to kill humans? Because he won’t handle that well.”

Lucifer buries his head. He most definitely does not want to explain his kinks to two of his children, one of his followers, all of his brothers, and his fiancé’s family. This was just too much for him to handle. None of this was fair. 

Dean pats Lucifer’s back. He doesn’t really want to explain either, but they need to. Otherwise someone was going to complain about the plan, and then they’d have to explain later instead of now, when he still has enough of the control in the room that he should be able to stop the budding arguments. “We have a plan. The mark doesn’t immediately want you to kill things. It brings the urge to hurt things, to destroy them. There are ways to do that without killing anyone, but you do need to be doing it to someone that you love. If you put together the fact that I love Lucifer, and that Lucifer happens to be extremely turned on by pain and rules and dominance, we think we can manage to keep a semi-healthy relationship while dealing with the mark.”

Sam blinks before just actually laughing. “You’re going to be in a BDSM relationship with the devil. You’ll have safe words and all that jazz, right?”

Lucifer groans but sits up to face Sam. “We don’t know. We haven’t really had enough private time to actually discuss the practicalities of whether this will work. This might be experimentation. No one has ever tried to do something like this before with the Mark. We’ll work it out together though, I don’t think that’s one we’ll run by the rest of you.”

Ellen grabs Sam’s shirt to keep him from charging towards the angel. “Sit down, Sam. Lucifer is correct. That’s private.”

“He’s the devil, Ellen. We can’t let him just talk to Dean about the choices of their relationship.”

Dean closes his eyes. He knew that was going to come up. Sam will want to know every detail of the relationship, so that he knows his brother won’t be getting into something that will actually hurt him in the long run. “Sam, I need you to listen very carefully.”

Sam nods. He might not want to hear a defense, but for his brother’s sake, he’ll listen. 

“I didn’t come after you. You left me and dad and the whole life. I let you. I only came for you when I needed help and even then, I wasn’t planning on forcing you to stay. Jessica’s death may have convinced you, but I didn’t. I let you choose. Do you disagree?”

“Of course not, Dean. You made sure that I knew that I could do whatever actions I thought that I needed in my life. You were a great to me.”

Dean lets his lips curl up into a smile. “I fell in love with Lucifer. I fell in love around the same time that I realized that I was willing to fight God because God hurt him. I’m not doing this because I feel like I owe him. I agreed to marry him to save us all, and I fell in love with him because I got to know him. I’m asking you to let me make my own choices.”

Sam shakes his head. Stubborn to the bone. He can’t possibly allow Dean to just rush headfirst into this.

Gabriel intervenes. He can’t believe that Sam can’t manage to understand what the hell is happening. “Then leave. If you aren’t willing to let him love who he loves, get the hell out of hell.”

Sam turns to glare at Gabriel. He wasn’t expecting glowing support from the man whose brother he was blaming, but he wasn’t expecting to get called out. “I’m not leaving unless Dean kicks me out.”

“Enough, Sam. This fight isn’t yours. The decision isn’t even remotely up to you. I’ve made the decision. I’m going to trust the devil, and I’m going to love him. If anyone here has a problem with that, then get out. Azazel will remain impartial enough to get you out of hell.”

Azazel inclines his head at the clear order in his king’s tone. That was also a small permission to take down anyone who tries to continue that portion of the fight so that none of them have to sit and listen to themselves be torn apart by a human who has decided to judge them on the path that God had set them all down. 

Sam’s glare doesn’t soften, but he choices not to open his mouth again. He doesn’t want to be left behind on this mission. There was a large chance that this was Lucifer’s plan to get Dean alone with just him, and he won’t let Lucifer win the battle that easily. He can play the long game.

Gabriel keeps reading Sam’s thoughts, and honestly, he thinks that if it wouldn’t make Dean slightly upset, he’d just lean over and punch the human. Seriously, why did the youngest Winchester think it was okay to judge people on actions they haven’t even seen?

Dean nods. “Right, step one is getting the two of us hitched so one of Michael’s options is completely off the table. We’re going to be bound so tightly to each other, that even if I gave my utter consent Michael shouldn’t be able to enter my body.”

Sam smiles. That’s the part of the plan he knows. This makes sense. All the rest of this was just a really long-winded way to get to the end story that he knows. Dean’s not truly in love with Lucifer. This was all just a show to make sure that the rest of them didn’t panic that they were going to get married sometime soon. 

“That’s when the problem with Adam showed up. Even in the other universe, I was stubborn enough to never say yes to Michael, so he went for Adam. Adam is a Winchester, which is important to the apocalypse because God made us to the perfect vessel. Now, Adam wouldn’t hold Michael forever, but it would work long enough to kickstart the apocalypse, so we kind of had to improvise. Adam has become the newest prince of hell.”

Adam glances up to give Dean a rogue smile. “Indeed. I was told the whole truth, by someone that most of you wouldn’t expect. Lucifer told me everything and gave me a choice. Go along with a future where thousands, millions even, get hurt because I wanted to see my mom, or join them and try to make a better future, even though we know it might be futile.”

Lucifer cracks a grin at that one. That was perhaps the most insane way Adam could have leapt into the fray, and yet he did it without hesitation so that no one could claim that Lucifer wasn’t going o end up controlling the narrative.

“Lucifer also turned me into a demon, by being inside my head. We were connected for about two months. Trust me, if you won’t trust your older brother Sam Winchester, that Dean loves Lucifer. More than either of us can ever understand perhaps, but that doesn’t make the love any less real, and neither of us get to make that decision.”

Sam opens his mouth to start retorting, before he felt a hand clasp over his mouth. He turns up to see Gabriel standing above him with a murderous look on his face. 

Gabriel offers Lucifer a controlled glare. One that conveys the amount of restraint he is using not to snap the man’s neck right now. He was going to snap back that they had no way to prove that Adam was their brother, nor should they trust the word of a demon, and after everything else the boy had said, he really couldn’t handle another better than you speech leaving his mouth again.   
Lucifer pauses, then laughs. “Gabriel, you’re good enough at mental spells to do something crazy aren’t you?”

“Do I want to know?”

“If Sammy agrees to stop looking for the worst and listens to the rest of the plan, I’ll let you put him in my head for an hour to find whatever the hell he’s looking for,” Lucifer offers. 

Sam grins. That’s all he needs. If he can show the angels that Lucifer was evil with what he found, then they’ll help him get his brother out of this mess that he created. 

“Moving on after the hopefully final interruption. Next plan is to reform hell. We need a base of operation, and right now we’re still running on God’s plan for this place, and we need to be not on that path,” Dean continues. 

Bobby nods in agreement. That sounded like a reasonable portion of the plan.

“To do that, I need power of my own rather than using my brother in law’s or my husband’s. So we’re going to give me the Mark of Cain. That will help with the third plan, which is free their Aunt Amara, beg for forgiveness, and hope she’ll help take down God. None of these are really fleshed out at the moment, because we need to get through the wedding first.”

Ellen shakes her head and starts muttering cuss words. Why was it that none of her children ever had a full plan before they rush into something like taking down God? “Fine, boy, but you’re going to have a plan before you start anything or I will drag you by your ear into a damn cell until you have one.”

Lucifer decides that if he’s going to be a member of this family he might as well start pushing buttons, slightly. “Which child, Ellen? Is Jo planning on taking down God before us?”

Ellen stands up and gently swats the back of Lucifer’s head. “I meant the two of you, the damn foolish ones. Dean may not be mine by blood, but he’s mine by choice. That means that you’re joining this broken family. Welcome. One of us already hates you. That’s honestly how most of us start.”

Lucifer twists to stare into her eyes. He’s expecting to see the general human lie that suggests that she’s trying to do the right thing while hating it, but all he sees is the utter truth. The woman has agreed that he’s one of hers now. “Thank you.”

Ellen snorts. “Don’t. You’ll hate us sometimes.”

Rafael offers her a hand. “I believe perhaps that this is the definition of family. If you plan on allowing my brother entrance into your family, it would be customary to do the same.”  
Jo quirks an eyebrow up. “That mean we get to do family dinners with God.”

Gabriel releases his death grip on Sam to turn to high five Jo. That was a bad ass comment and those deserve to be recognized. “That’s how we kill him. A family dinner with everyone. He’ll give up in a moment.”

Bobby might be hesitant, but if they’re trying to mend fences, he’ll join. They all deserve the second chance at a better family. “Well I’ve got a bunker warded from just about anything for the dinner so we don’t have uninvited guests.”

Crowley’s eyes light up. “I could show you how to do wards that would only let those invited inside the room, that way you wouldn’t have to open it to all angels or all demons.” The offer is genuine although not confident that it will be accepted. 

Bobby shakes his head. “Forgot I’ll need more seats for the demons. Ellen, might be easier to ward the bar so that we could fit everyone around a table without needing to do massive renovations on my house.”

Ellen turns to the other two demons. “Alright. I’ll let the boys,” she jerks her head at Azazel and Adam, “do the work for that one. Carving and wards are not my specialty. Keeping the family out of deep shit is.”

Lucifer dares to place a kiss on her cheek. “Just give me a date, and I’ll make sure they’re free for you.”

“Before everyone starts making family plans, can we double check his motives?” Sam asks. He forces his voice to be polite although he still wants to be screaming that they can’t trust the devil.

Dean glances up at Sammy before nodding. “Yes, you can double check his motives, but I want a promise first.”

“What promise?”

“When you find that he has nothing to hide, no ulterior motives, and no secret plots, you try to make this family work too. You’ve broken me enough, Sammy. Let me have this one.”

Sam closes his eyes. He ran away when he was younger and even still Dean holds that over his head. He’ll never let him forget that the reason that their family fell apart in part because of him. “Fine. I swear.”


	27. The Mental Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam gets inside of Lucifer's head, and they have actual conversation, since Sam realizes that he can't lie in his own mind. Once, they talk, Sam realizes that they really are two sides of a coin.

“Sammy, I’m warning you right now, so that you can’t claim that this is a new thing when you come back. If you hurt him, I will find a way to kill you without getting your blood on my hands to complete the prophecy of Cain,” Dean warns. His voice seems cold even to him, but if he allows his emotions to bleed through his brother might doubt him. 

“And by avoiding his own hands getting bloody, all he has to do is look at me and say he hurt your king, and I will rip your spine out of your body and let you die slowly,” Azazel adds. 

Crowley glances up to meet Dean’s eyes. “If my squirrel gives me the command, I will put a bullet between your eyes, so you feel no pain but leave this world all the same.”

“I could snap my fingers again and make sure your soul just disappears from this universe, might even save us some future problems,” Gabriel offers. 

Ellen rolls her eyes. Trust one of her two boys to start rivalries in less time than it took for the devil to get kicked out of heaven. How was this even possible? “Enough. No one will be killing anybody. Sam, you are entering another person’s mind with consent, if you hurt them with that, I will personally bring wrath down upon you as punishment, although it still won’t be death. Lucifer, if you have anything to confess that he might find that you don’t really want the rest of us to find out from the shades of Sam Winchester, now would be a good time to come clean.”

Lucifer smiles up at Ellen. Perhaps this woman really could be the mother figure of a broken family consisting of three archangels, three demons, more than a few humans, and the currently human king of hell. She really would protect him as well as the others as her children. “There are things that you do not know about me, but there are not things that Dean doesn’t know. If he tries to twist things, I will allow Dean to defend me. I don’t particularly want to bear my soul for everyone.”

Ellen gives him a brisk nod. He’s in his rights there. No one should have to give up their soul to people they’ve barely met just because chaos seems to follow this family no matter what they do to try to stop the chaos from spreading. She’ll just have to learn to deal with the curveballs that life keeps throwing at them with a blank face. 

Gabriel sighs. He’d rather not have to do any of this. He wishes that Sam could just have faith, but he understands why the human can’t. He came real close to not being able to either, but then he met the two of them while they were still pretending they didn’t love each other, and that cleared up any confusion that he could have had. “Both of you lie down. I don’t need either of you panicking inside his mind and ending up passing out in your normal bodies.”

Sam moves first, lying face up on the cold ground without hesitation.

Dean shakes his head in disbelief. No one should spend an hour on hard cold floors in order to get information from enemies. “Crowley, go grab two blankets, so they can at least have some warmth, since I doubt my brother will wait long enough to choose a room.”

Lucifer smirks at his fiancé and snaps. The blanket floats under Sam and another lays down next to him as he crawls into it. He wiggles his eyebrows at Dean surprised that the man once again had forgotten that he was magic. 

Gabriel gave no warning before tapping both of their foreheads with the magic. He wanted this over with as soon as they possibly could. None of the others in the room gave any noise. They were all just waiting for this to be done, so that maybe they could all go back to the times where they were just planning a wedding. Nothing crazy at all. 

Lucifer blinks his eyes open and knows that he’s inside his own memories. He doubts that mortal human has any idea how to control his own thoughts, so the idea of him trying to navigate this mess himself would be shocking. “What do you wish to see Sammy? I will bring it to the front of my mind.”

Sam refuses to let the devil get the better of him. He doesn’t need help, so he just walks into the first door he sees. The room changes and rather than being inside a dark hallway, he’s standing in a realm blinded by light. Everything there is so gorgeous. Then, there’s Lucifer running after someone who looks older than him. A smile on his face.

Lucifer chuckles to himself. Luckily for Sam, this was a pleasant memory in heaven. Back when he was younger and following Michael around the entire realm. They’d play with non-angelic blades, not thinking that it would later be training. They’d practice falling and catching themselves with their wings. Who’d have thought that one of them would no longer have their own wings. 

“Who is that?”

“Michael. My older brother, and quite possibly the one person that I miss most. Unfortunately as of right now, he hasn’t made any type of decision, regarding coming to my wedding or mending the broken fencing that dad gave us.”

Sam sits down, titling his head to the side. “Can you show me the day you were cast out of heaven?”

Lucifer hates to even thinking about that day, but Sam had a right to see that memory. That would tell him just how broken Lucifer was. That would tell him why his brother could find his way to forgive him. He waves his hand, and the memory shifts.

Heaven still has the bright taste, but he’s lying on the ground bloody. Michael stands above him with his foot over Lucifer’s neck. A man that Sam barely recognizes stands off to the side. “Michael, snap his wings, so he can’t try to catch himself and fly himself to safety,” the man orders. 

Michael shakes as he leans down, but he still snaps the bones in pieces while Lucifer lies on the ground, panting through the pain.

“Stop,” Sam screams. His face is torn into pieces as he turns to face Lucifer. “Tell me you don’t want the man who broke you to come to your wedding.”

Lucifer manages to bite back the tears before they pour out of him. “He didn’t want to hurt me. You can tell by the simple healing spells he sent with each break. I should have been screaming, but Michael took my pain. He can’t heal with magic alone, he can only take injuries onto him. He hated the order, but when God tells you to break the bones of your little brother, you break the bones. The only angel that who was ever created that could have stood up and ignored that rule was me.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why would you still stand up to the man, knowing full well that one day he would have you killed just like this? Why would you to this day still reach out to your siblings to try to convince them to walk out on God?”

Lucifer shrugs that question has way too many answers, then he remembers perhaps one of the most important memories he has. The creation of Azazel, the first prince of hell. He pulls up that memory. 

Lucifer’s pain could be seen by the ragged burned pieces of his wings. He couldn’t patch them up correctly himself and despite what he believed no one had come down to see him. Not in the first year, not in the first hundred. He couldn’t survive alone. 

God had made the archangels in his image. That much Lucifer could remember. He created with all of the burning anger he held. He built with all the hurt that was trapped under his skin. A soul for him to use, but he had no place to put it. He couldn’t build bodies, but he found a reaper and begged. Begged for a single person. 

He pushed those souls together and helped the man that was once Azazel become the first prince of hell. The love flooded between them. He was Azazel’s father if not in reality in spirit. That man became his lifeline. He helped reset the burned off wings, so that Lucifer could at least manage not to scream in agony at every move. 

Sam froze as he stares at the younger Azazel. “When Dean said that he forgave Azazel, what he meant was, I’ve forgiven my son, isn’t it?”

“I can’t speak for your brother perfectly. We just haven’t been together for enough time to make that connection without any errors, but probably. He knows that I count Azazel as a son. More than likely now that we’re making a family, he’ll acknowledge Azazel as his son as well.”

“Do me a favor and tell me with only words. Why do you love my brother?”

“I wasn’t planning on fighting God, not really. I wanted to stop his plan, because I didn’t want to suffer anymore, but I wasn’t going to go after Aunt Amara, or try to free the angels, or try to save humanity. All of those came up because of Dean.”

“I don’t understand,” Sam says. His brow furrows in the same way that Dean’s does when he’s super confused on what Lucifer is talking about.

Lucifer smiles. “I told him about the day I was created, about how Aunt Amara had helped but that God had asked us to trap her because of the danger. He pointed out that I loved her, and that she would likely forgive us the moment we asked for forgiveness. He said it was only common sense that I had a plan to save her. I didn’t have a plan until that moment, but once he said it out loud, I knew he was right. That was the first conversation we ever had, and I have a gut feeling I was already on the way to loving him.”

Sam coughs. Of course his brother’s simplicity would make the devil fall in love. “You realize this is crazy, right?”

“No crazier, than when I was complaining about not having family, and Dean just stared at me with that blank look of disbelief. What do you mean, no family? You’ve got Azazel, the son that worships you. You’ve got Crowley, the demon who never seems to give up when he should. You’ve got me, sure the love thing is fake, but you’re stuck with me now. You’ll have all of my family too, I’ll make sure of it. And if you want your angelic family back, well we’re already pissing off God so what’s a little bit more.”

Sam laughs at that one. No wonder his brother was so upset that he didn’t trust Lucifer. He had promised the angel a family and here Sam was breaking his word. “Alright. I don’t trust you, but I’ll be at your wedding with my blessing. Plus, family doesn’t have trust like 98 percent of the time, so we’ll make it through this. Can you get us out of here early?”

“Close your eyes,” Lucifer says. He waits until his order is followed before closing his own eyes and following Dean’s heart back to the realm of the living. 

Dean cups his face almost automatically when he sees a flicker of alertness. “You’re early.”

“Must’ve learned from you how to convince him of things,” he drawls.

Dean leans down and kisses him. Gentle and slow. No need to try to bring passion into this when that’s likely to freak some people out. 

Sam sits up automatically to stare at the two of them. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t trust words alone.”

Gabriel almost wants to say tough, but he knows where that distrust stems from. Between John’s shitty damn parenting, and God making his soul match Lucifer’s there was never a chance. “Not your fault you have such shit taste.”

Rafael snorts as the first thought that crosses Sam’s mind was, does he know that by saying that he’s calling himself shit? His brothers can’t read minds as easily as he can so neither of them heard, but he did. “No worries, little one. Would he be our little brother too now?”

“Brother in law,” Gabriel and Sam shout in unison.

Rafael nods to himself. That was a bit more than a schoolgirl crush, but he’ll let them make their own choices on this. He holds a hand out to Lucifer to pull him up. “I hear there’s a wedding in a couple hours. We should probably get the grooms and wedding parties dressed.”

Crowley nods. “You do that, I’ll make sure the wedding room is ready for all of us.”


	28. The Preparations #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean gets ready for his wedding with his family and new friends.

Dean gets led off by his side of the family. Part of him wants to stay near Lucifer, but the rest of him recognizes the tradition of being separated. He grins over at Ellen as they walk down the corridors to the area that they’ve agreed to use as a dressing room. “I’m getting married.”

“You’re getting married. Sam is your best man, and I will be walking you down that aisle,” Ellen shouts. 

Bobby shakes his head. “You get to walk the boy down the aisle when we all know that it should be on me.”

Dean turns to stare at Bobby for a long moment, before grinning. “There’s no rule to say that both of you can’t walk me to my groom.”

Bobby laughs. “Alright, boy, you win. We’ll both walk you to Lucifer to give you away.”

Jo pushes open the door and marches in. “Well, the wedding itself doesn’t need anymore work. Now, getting Dean into his suit and spoofed up for his wedding is a whole other issue. You, sit.”  
Dean follows her orders on principle. Of all the people in his family that he’s recently dragged into hell’s political nonsense, Jo will get along best with the people in hell. 

Sam grabs the suit out and stares at the colors. His brother will look better in the dark brown compared to a normal black, yet he doesn’t see any potential clothes for the rest of the wedding party, which could make things hairy. 

Jo turns to see the outfit and starts messing with Dean’s hair. She moves her hands through it to get it as un-styled as she can before she starts working on the design. Her eyes flicker across the room. “Since, we didn’t get to give you a bachelor’s party, you have to give us juicy details now.”

“What kind of details? Like the way he’ll buck up against my leg the second I use an ounce of force against him, or like the way he’ll relax the second that I enter the throne room, and he realizes that he won’t have to deal with the demons alone at the very least.”

Sam whistles under his breath. He’s never seen his brother that willing to share details, and he’s pretty sure he understands the way Lucifer loves Dean even better than Dean does. Once upon a time, he’d have hissed at Dean to not share details about his sex life, but he’s a bit curious about the positions. “You claiming that Lucifer’s the bottom in this relationship?”

Crowley hits his head on the way end as he hears Sam’s words. “Please, my king, for my sanity don’t answer that. Please.”

“You’re a demon. You’d be disappointed if I didn’t torture you somewhat. Yes, Sam. I’m not just claiming it, I’m flat out saying I’ve done actions that prove the damn thing.”

Crowley groans and slams his head on the wall as he collapses into the bed. He can’t possibly believe that he allows Dean to get away with being evil so often. “You’re an asshole, bestie. But whatever, I don’t have a right to complain.”

Dean laughs as Jo shapes his hair into a stylish mop instead of his normal sloppy sense of fashion. “Wedding colors are the red, gold, and black from the cards, right?”

“As you asked me to manage,” Crowley confirms. 

Bobby leans over to stare at the suit that Dean’s wearing before realizing that the brown could easily match with some of the easier amounts of the gold from the cards. “Alright. What are the rest of us wearing?”

Crowley sighs. “Alright, let’s start with Sam, because he at least only has one color option. You’re wearing gold, same with Lucifer’s best man, so you’ll match during the dance. Don’t even try to wiggle out of that one, its important for politics and for Lucifer’s ability to see this as a real wedding, so you’re not goingt o do anything to jeopardize it.”

Sam stares at Crowley for a moment. “So gold, but I don’t see any options.”

Crowley waves his hand and seven different golden suits with various styles pop up. “Now, I’ve included two with white undershirts, but I think that would be a grievous fashion mistake. But if I’ve learned anything about the Winchester’s between Dean and Lucifer’s memories of a different world, you might want them.”

Sam stares in wonder at the rotating suits. He’s never seen this many designer model clothes in one place in his entire life. How on Earth could Dean afford this? The answer is that he couldn’t but between the demons and Lucifer, he’ll never have to pay for anything again. This may be a problem for Dean’s pride, but that’s his problem. 

Sam reaches out and touches the style of the gold bowtie to match the silk finish of the suit. The undershirt is black just like Crowley suggested. He might prefer plaid when he’s out on a case, but for a fancy event, like his brother’s wedding, he wants the latest fashion trends available. “This one.”

Crowley shrugs and vanishes the rest of the suits. “Put it on. I’ll fix it on you once its on. Now, Jo, put down the hair styling tools for a moment to choose your outfit. You have black, red, and some lighter browns that aren’t quite gold. I have three suits, three dresses, and two skirt and blazer combinations.”

Jo freezes. “I don’t have to wear a dress.”

“You hate them, so while Crowley grabbed a few on the off chance that the wedding was something you were willing to wear a dress for, you could. But I never thought that would be what you’ll end up wearing,” Dean replies. 

Crowley shakes his head at the dramatics and pulls up another flash of outfits. This one has some of his personal favorite options for the few occasions that he’s ever had to take a female vessel. The ability to dance in heels was a skill that he developed early in his life. “The skirts on the blazer combos, have a slit on the side that eases both dancing and fighting.”

Jo reaches out to check for the slits and smiles as she sees them. The black shirt is paired with a gorgeous red button up blouse with a black blazer. The entire combo catches her eye and keeps it there. “Are we actually allowed to wear these? There’s not a bargain to be made, no price to pay. We just get the outfits of our dreams to make Dean’s wedding even more fantastic.”

Crowley sighs. He hates when people make him explain acts of kindness. He admits that as a demon they make him feel too squishy on the inside. The only time that statement wasn’t true was in the other universe when he tried to become human, but he thinks that Lucifer had a plan to ensure that this discomfort wouldn’t last. “You did hear the part where Dean included me in this little family unit we’re trying to form, right?”

“Well yes.”

“Good. That means for better or for worse, I will try to make your lives easier. I’m a demon, normally I charge a price for helping, but never for family. Family that I care about anyway. You’ll come home when you die, and until then I will still keep you in the best clothes I can find. You ever have a wedding, and I’ll help plan the damn thing. That’s what family does.”

Jo turns a narrow gaze on him. “You don’t know me.”

“You’re family. Doesn’t matter if we don’t know each other right now, we’ll figure it out over holiday meals and kicking ass. Family,” Crowley comments. He moves one outfit out of the way to start the magic to fit the suit to Sam. 

Dean stands up and starts putting on his own suit. After the many hours that Crowley and Gabriel and him had spent fully designing this suit for his tastes, nothing needs to be summoned or fit. He just needs to get himself into the outfit. He needs to deal with this wedding, before he can have a break. He really wants a break.

Jo starts stripping down to throw on her new outfit even though she has a gut feeling that one day she’ll end up paying for it. Probably because she’ll end up standing in between another hunter and the demon because he’s family. That thought doesn’t send the shivers down her spine like it once would have.

Crowley spins himself to get himself into a full red suit outfit that way even if they start falling behind on time, he can still spiffy himself up on the way down the corridor. Then, he turns his gaze to Bobby. “I don’t think you’ll want any of the bold colors, so I figure that you’ll end with brown and suits, so that’s pretty much all you’ve got.”

Bobby stares at all of the fancy options that surround him and falls backwards. “I don’t think that I can actually handle all this fluff on my body.”

Dean huffs out a laugh as he starts putting on some of the decorations he needs as the king of hell, including the crown out of bones for the second king. A gift from Azazel while Lucifer was hidden inside Adam’s head. 

Crowley shakes his head. Bobby has the option of every single fancy outfit that exists, and the man wants simple. He waves his hand a cotton suit appears in a light tan color. “Better?”

“Much.” Bobby reaches out to start pulling that suit on. He should have some difficulty stripping down to his boxers in front of a demon, but honestly, the demon seems much more concerned with the fashion statements. 

Crowley spins to face Ellen. “Dress or pantsuit? I never got a clear preference from you with what anyone knew from before.”

Ellen offers him a smile. She knows that her story wasn’t as massively important but hearing that so blatantly stated still hurt. “For a wedding, just a dress.”

Dean saw the pause. He’s picking up some talents from Lucifer when it comes to understanding the hidden thoughts behind sentences from other people now. “Ellen, I don’t know your preference. Not because I don’t love you, but because we’ve never once had a chance for a fancy event. The reason I knew Jo’s was because of the almost date.”

Ellen wants to focus on the happy portion of that statement, but instead she finds out about the fact that Dean almost tried to take out her daughter. “What almost date?”

Dean bites his lip as he realizes that Jo never filled her in. “The important thing to remember that I’m literally marrying someone else, an archangel of the lord in like an hour.”

“I suppose I can be convinced to let this die down, in return for a nice red dress with some amount of puffed up sleeves,” she teases. 

Crowley purses his lips as he tries to find one, then just gives up. He spins around to glare at Dean. “I swear none of you ever make my life easy. Ellen stand up and get rid of the clothes, I’m handmaking a dress. I can tailor a dress in an hour.”

Dean shakes his head. “Just show her the other dresses. Don’t try to make one, she was joking.”

“Oh.” Crowley snaps his fingers and even more dresses fill the room with only red colors.

Ellen walks around all of the dresses, until she pauses as a lovely red dress with silver embroidery that reminds her of the style of Lucifer’s writing. She’s seen barely anything of him, but she could give him this as a bit of a compromise. She slips it on without ever hiding and comes out.

“Ellen,” Dean gasps. 

“Something for you, something for him. Now, we need to find you something blue. Maybe a decent blue bracelet.” 

Dean stretches his arm out to show her the blue jewel cuff that has the gold chain. “Lucifer slipped this into the room while we met with the family with a sweet note. I’m ready.”

Bobby took one of his arms as Ellen takes his other. “Well then boy, let’s go get you married,” he scoffs.


	29. The Preparations #2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer gets ready for his wedding with all of his family. Plus, they gossip about Azazel and Castiel. Honestly, everyone should gossip about those two.

Lucifer allows himself to be dragged from the room by both of his brothers. Behind them, Adam and Azazel cast double glares at any demons who have the nerve to even look their way. His smile proves that he really does want to marry the new king of hell, Dean. 

“So, right now, I have your suit being black, since I was pretty sure that one of you would like the touch of traditional, and neither red or gold would go great with your whole style,” Gabriel announces as they reach the dressing room. 

Lucifer nods. That was a decent choice given the fact that he’d been busy during the normal times that would have major changes. His hair was already styled with just enough magic that it wouldn’t fall out of place, even if the wedding did devolve into a battlefield. 

Rafael shakes his head as he sees the suit. “Change the trims from gold to red. Lucifer, already has the gold.”

Lucifer turns to furrow his brow at Rafael. He has no gold on him right now, and the only part of him that could ever be claimed as gold was his wings. The wings that were burned off of him as he fell down to hell, when his brother threw him from the bounds of heaven. “I have no gold.”

“Yes, you do. You have your wings.”

“They’re burned, Raf. They’ve been burned since the day, God cast me from his sight. I haven’t had wings even longer than I’ve embraced being the king of hell.”

Rafael snorts. As if he didn’t see the flames as they all stared after him. As if, Michael hadn’t crawled into the bed with him that night weeping over the brother that he harmed. As if, Rafael wasn’t the absolute best healer in all of the angels. “Yes, they’re broken, but if you allow me to see them, I will heal them. You are still an archangel. You still have wings. You can have the full power once more.”

Lucifer’s eyes widen as he turns to stare at his brother with desperation. If this is a lie, then he might actually lose his mind. He couldn’t believe that his brother would be willing to reverse one of the punishments handed out by their father. This was more than just showing up for a brother’s wedding, this was rebellion.

Gabriel drops down onto the bed behind them to shake his head. “You do this, and there will be no turning back. No one will ever be able to help you back down. You’ll have to live with this choice for all of your life. Can you?”

“I can live with this far easier than I lived with knowing that I could have flown after him. I could have caught him, right then. I could have said no. I didn’t. I let him have my brother once, I won’t let him have him for eternity.”

Lucifer reaches out and cups Rafael’s face. “Never. Never blame yourself for that day. You want to hold some blame for all of the years you left me here without checking on me, I’ll try to convince you that I forgive you, but I won’t discount your belief that you hold some of the blame. But that day belongs to Father and Father alone. Even Michael couldn’t have stood up to him that day.”

Adam coughs gently. He doesn’t want to ruin the moment, but they only have a couple hours to get ready, and if they’re going to rehash the old wounds, then they might also need to freeze time, because he doubts that Dean would take well to being left on the alter for them to figure out the family drama. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but perhaps the conversation could continue while Rafael heals your wings.”

Lucifer cracks a smile. Already, the new demon was brazen enough to stand in front of archangels and tell them off. He pops his wings out for the first time in centuries. The familiar pain just background noise as he hears the whimpers from the other angels. Then, he pauses. “Where’s Azazel?”

“He’s getting the other guests situated. Including, one angel that seems to hold him in high esteem. He seemed rather excited to make sure that the angel gets to see the beauty of hell.”

Gabriel falls over laughing. “Oh my goodness. One of your greatest demons is running after an angel to show him the beauty of hell. One of the angels is going to let him. Dad’s going to come back to the devil married to the righteous man, all of his sons gone rebel, and a demon and an angel in love.”

“All?” Rafael asks.

“Michael holds on to the same hatred of that day as both of us. He’ll read the invitation at some point, and I have no doubt that whatever olive branch that Lucifer put in there will be enough to drag him to hell, and the second that he sees the entire family, he’s going to join in.”

Rafael shakes his head. He’s not nearly so confident in Michael’s ability to stand up to their father. He could barely look up when the orders were passed down to let the humans die in the apocalypse so that they could bring about the last war among angels. He casts a familiar magic as his hands slide over the crisp feathers in Lucifer’s wings. He’ll start with the more delicate feathers, then work his way to the bones, muscles, and glands. His brother deserves to stand as he was made for his wedding day. “So, tell me, which angel caught the eye of Lucifer’s eldest?”

Lucifer pauses for a second to try to figure out whether he knew the angel, and he found that he definitely did know which angel was in question. Perhaps they were going to end up together after all, the angel trusted a demon’s word and the demon kept it. “Tell me you don’t have a guess.”

“You’re kidding?” Gabriel shouts.

“Nope, when Castiel couldn’t have the Winchesters, he fell for the demon. Come on, that’s almost poetic.”

Rafael shakes with laughter as he feels the last of the feathers bush up under his skilled hands. He doesn’t need any help, his magic was made for mental attacks and healing. None of the other archangels could have done this alone, but he’s not just a normal archangel. “Luce, can you tell me whether the feathers are alright?”

Lucifer freezes. He’d been so busy teasing the angels about the other angel in hell that was determined to see his older sibling married, that he forgot that his wings were being fixed. He raises them and the pain shoots down his spine, but he has the lift form the feathers. “They’re great.”

Rafael slaps his shoulder. “You, dumbass, you didn’t have to hurt yourself to get the point across. You could have just shaken yourself.” The magic spreads to the muscles, where the pain resides from the curse of falling without being allowed to catch yourself. Too bad that their father never bothered to check with the children that no one could heal him later. 

Gabriel snaps his fingers and the suit settles on Lucifer’s skin. He shrugs at the stares. “Dean has multiple people fighting to walk him down the aisle, I figure that means that we’ll need to be here first. All fancy and ready to start the wedding.”

Lucifer glances his brother up and down. “What are you wearing, because please for my sake don’t wear the unicorn onesie that you’ve been sporting all day?”

“Now, I’ll have you know that I am extremely spiffy in my unicorn suit, but it’s not really wedding attire. It has far too much of a whimsical element. We want this day rooted in the books as reality. The day that the devil got redeemed, his wings standing over his children, his followers once more. I figured we have three theme colors, there are three of us. You took black, I’ll take gold, because I can pull off the solid metal color, and the handsome one can have red.”

“Ah, Gabe, I knew you thought I was pretty, but I didn’t think I’d ever get you to admit it out loud.”

Lucifer smiles as he leans forward to pitch himself into Gabriel’s arms while Rafael’s hands still glide over him, trying to restore him to his former glory. “Love me?”

“For eternity, dear brother. For eternity. Even if he destroys our souls in this universe, know that in every single dimension, I have always loved you. Always and forever.”

Rafael claps as he pulls back. His magic might be too low for a fight now, but he doubts that anyone will try to spill blood at the wedding. Now, the coronation is a different story, but that should wait until Dean’s been marked. Just so he doesn’t have to fight off all of the many angry demons that will charge the poor man. He doesn’t want to have to start a war for his brother in law. “I’m sure that in most, you won’t get the chance to see me before I am long dead by one brother’s schemes or another’s or that God gets tired of my interference, but you hold my love in all of them too.”

Lucifer flaps his wings and lets out a breathy laugh when he realizes that the pain isn’t there. He’ll walk down his wedding aisle with wings glowing, and no one will take them from him again. He’ll provoke them to far for the them to allow a punishment period instead of death. 

Adam stares at them. “None of you would have looked all those years ago, but do you think there’s a pathway where you never split apart?”

“Every choice has a pathway. That’s why there are so many branches that even the archangels hesitate before using them to try to make a decision. So, yes. Somewhere, we made the right choice to stand with our brother, and maybe that went well, or maybe that went horribly wrong. We may never know. You can’t reach branches that far removed from the current choices without a really strong anchor, or a rift that causes the universes to merge.”

Rafael nods in agreement with Gabriel. “Plus, the only known being powerful enough to cause a rift is the Nephilim of an archangel. With Lucifer marrying Dean, who is very much male and attractive, me being extremely uninterested in anything to do with sex, and Gabriel probably going to end up hate sleeping with the younger Winchester, no need to worry.”

“You never know. Michael might go find a nice girl to settle down with,” Lucifer teases.

“You’re not going to defend me that I’m not going to end up sleeping with Sam.”

Lucifer turns to give Gabriel his best are you serious stare. “You and the boy have enough tension to slice through Michael’s blush when you bring up women. You’re either going to end up trying to kill each other again, or you’re going to end up in bed with each other.”

“Or both. I vote that its going to be both at some point,” Rafael adds. 

Gabriel closes his eyes to let the words run over him. He would not upset Dean by even trying to provoke Sam Winchester. If he could get through the boy trying to claim that Lucifer was casting a spell on Dean, the best of them, then he could handle the urge to throttle him anywhere else. He snaps and the suits appear on both him and Rafael. 

Adam stands up and the nice black fits him. It’s a more muted color, so that Lucifer still stands out in a crowd, but will fit in nicely. All of them know that either Lucifer or Azazel did the magic for him this early in the game, but no one will comment on it. They’ve all been there at the beginning of their power journeys.

Lucifer leads the way back out of the hallway towards the makeshift wedding chamber. In less than an hour, he’d be married to Dean Winchester, and the world would be on a much happier path. Love does seem to have the power to ease the decisions of the others in this sense and every sense. 

The guests were primarily demons. A couple of angels did show up, and Azazel was hurriedly talking to one of them. Lucifer gets a rise from the crowd as he arrives at the altar. He waves them all to sit before Dean arrives. He has no doubt that while punctual, Dean might be a bit behind for the day.

That’s when the crash comes, and all the guests prepare to have to fight as the clouds dissipate.


	30. The Interruption

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where everyone gets to meet Michael, and hopefully get the wedding rolling.

Michael sits up in his room in heaven staring at the unopened letter. The wedding was going to happen in about two hours, and his brother had left a long time ago to go try to make up with the brother that God had abandoned. He shakes where he sits, because he wants more than anything to be there too, but he can’t. 

Eventually, he stands up and grabs the letter before making his way over to the bed. He sits down and rips open the damn envelope. He ignores the words that were on all of the other cards. He doesn’t really care about the human that his brother has convinced to marry him, even if that human was once meant to his. 

The words were written in such a way that he knew that they were Lucifer’s, but the message suggests that Dean Winchester had at the very least made him offer his own side and allow for the reader to have another one. 

_Hey, big brother, long time since we even tried to communicate. Guess after all of this time, I’m going to be the one reaching out. You should be thanking my fiancé for that one because I would have just continued waiting. I suppose that you were waiting too, or maybe I just want to believe that you were waiting. Michael, you were old enough, older even then me. You know why I was cast out of heaven, because of what the curse did to me. _

_ I thought for the longest time that you hated me. That you blamed me for my actions. But then I started wondering why you’d feel that way. You knew how hard I tried to repress the feelings. You knew I was suffering long before anyone else came into the picture, which led me to believe that you didn’t blame me, you just didn’t know what to do. Afterall, going against God was always a risky move, not that I wasn’t always willing._

_ Listen, Michael, you are my big brother. You’ll always be one of the people that I love most in the entire world, and I don’t want to lose you. I never want to lose you. So how about we make a deal? I won’t try to force you into changing your ways. I will never ask that you break one of dad’s actual rules not the self-imposed ones that you use to justify why you never try to reach out. And in return you come to my wedding. You be my big brother. We try to mend the fences between us without God having anything to do with it. _

_ Please come home. I know that hell isn’t home to you, but neither is heaven. Once you would have sworn that home was where your brothers are, and I’m down here asking you to come to me. Please let this be enough. I know that this letter is late, and I know that this entire thing might just cause you to hate me more, but please. Please be here._

_ Love, Lucifer.___

_ _ Michael crumbles the letter in his hand. The words didn’t even offer blame. Not one of them said that it was his fault for letting Lucifer suffer for all these years, even though he deserves that pain. He’ll deserve that pain for eternity. All his brother wants is the family to appear for the wedding. _ _

_ _ He bets that God wouldn’t even notice his sudden lack of appearance at any of the events. He bets that he could slip out to the wedding, and everyone would assume that he went to relieve stress of knowing that the wedding was happening. No one would ever know, but that would be a shitty way to try to reconnect._ _

_ _ The wedding will begin in one hour, and he still has no clue what to do. He doesn’t think that Lucifer would be cruel about the fact that he showed up late, but he doesn’t know about the human. The human is meant to be his perfect vessel, the person who understands his choices with perfect clarity. If he can’t tell whether he deserves a chance, why would his vessel ever be willing to do anything? _ _

_ _ Michael’s breathing starts coming in labored gasps, and he realizes that the person he wants to tell him that everything will be alright anyway is Lucifer. It will always be Lucifer. He wants his brother, the one that he was closest too. The one that never gives up even when every single person in the world is telling him to. _ _

_ _ He snaps his fingers, and a red suit fits around his body. He can still get there in time. He’s sure to start a few fits, showing up so late and not even sure what he’s willing to do. But that’s all that he really can do, so he leaves._ _

_ _ The smoke clears, and he sees multiple weapons pointed his direction. That did not even cross his mind, that this could still be a trap. He read the letter and truly believed that he would be safe in his brother’s home._ _

_ _ “Everyone back down,” Lucifer orders. His voice ringing clear from the alter up above the aisle. He can see Dean just a little outside the door waiting to be walked down the aisle. _ _

_ _ Michael pauses looking around. All of his archangel brothers were here, and he had no clue what was supposed to happen next. “Made it to your wedding, little brother.”_ _

_ _ Lucifer raises his eyebrow because honestly this wasn’t exactly making it to the wedding. This was pretty close to just crashing the wedding. Not that he would have minded the wedding getting crashed if it meant that he could have another one with his full family there, but somehow he suspects that Dean would be slightly peeved if they didn’t get married today._ _

_ _ Michael stays right where he is. He still doesn’t have a plan, and Lucifer wasn’t speaking. Surely, one of the others would speak up eventually. Even to ask him to sit down. He doesn’t know if the rows of seats have been organized or anything, because surely at some point someone would take pity on him._ _

_ _ Dean stares at the archangel who in another timeline would destroy every chance he got at happiness and can’t bring himself to find anything but pity. The angel was standing there so clearly unsure of what to do, so unconfident that any of these choices could be good but needing to answer the call of the olive branch just in case all of the stories were wrong. Lucifer wouldn’t know how to respond to his brother, which means Dean’s the one who needs to say something. _ _

_ _ “Glad you made it, Michael. We weren’t sure whether you were going to. It’s nice to see all of Lucifer’s family here. Adam, can you show Michael to his place in the groom’s party,” Dean commands. His voice rings just as clear as Lucifer’s had moments before._ _

_ _ Michael froze as the demon moved from Dean’s line of the party over to him. He couldn’t believe that the demons followed the words of a mortal without any pause. Surely that was unnatural. Surely, that was insanity. Someone was going to comment on that in just a second, he was sure. But no one did, instead he let the demon lead him to the middle of Lucifer’s party. _ _

_ _ Gabriel’s hand shoots out to grab his before Michael can start to overthink again. The archangel must have been firmly shaken by whatever Lucifer had written him, because his balance on right and wrong was all kinds of wacked. _ _

_ _ Lucifer turns to see whether Dean’s going to give him a moment, and once he realizes that yes, his fiancé is patiently waiting for him to do whatever he needs to do, he leans over and hugs Michael. He can feel the tension in Michael’s body, but he doesn’t move away. “Thank you.”_ _

_ _ Michael returns the hug. Normally, he’d reply that he always tries to be there for those who call for him, but they both know that the statement would be untrue for their relationship. “How could I not when my little brother was pleading with me to come home? I’d have to be a world renown dick to do that, and I am many things, but I try to make sure that I’m not cruel to those that I love.”_ _

_ _ “Love you too,” Lucifer murmurs before turning back to Rafael. His attention should be on the wedding and not on his slightly long-lost brother. As much as he might want to just curl up in his brother’s arms and ignore the world for at least another couple of hours, he shouldn’t._ _

_ _ Dean pauses as he can see the longing on Lucifer’s face. He wants to have his brother close to him. After everything that they’ve gone through Dean can’t blame him for wanting something like that. He closes his eyes and pushes his thoughts to Lucifer, hoping that the other archangels wouldn’t listen in, but also not caring if they did decide to choose to do so. “Honey, you can ask him to join us in a private room after the wedding to catch up before the dance. I won’t mind. I know how important it is that he came.”_ _

_ _ “I shouldn’t put us on hold for him, when we’re the ones making all the efforts.” The answer comes quickly almost as if Lucifer expected Dean to offer something._ _

_ _ Dean quirks an eyebrow over to Ellen, whose hand is resting on his arm. “I think perhaps I should go straight Michael with my offer.”_ _

_ _ “I think you’re going to start a marital spat in the middle of your wedding, but honestly that seems like something that you’d do.”_ _

_ _ “I am offended you think so little of me,” Dean teases. Nonetheless, he pushes his thoughts out, this time searching for the newest archangel. “If you want a private conversation with both of us, we can do that after the ceremony, but before the dance? If you’re concerned that I will mind, I can assure you that I do not mind in the slightest.”_ _

_ _ Michael’s thoughts take a longer time coming back. “Judging by the glare on your husband to be’s face I don’t think he would like that.”_ _

_ _ “He thinks that I am doing this in order to help him with no regards for my own desires. He seems to have doubts that I will make these choices for my family and his, because after today, they’ll be both of ours, so do you want to meet?”_ _

_ _ “Yes.”_ _

_ _ Dean turns to Ellen with a dazzling smile. “Game time.”_ _

_ _ Bobby grumbles but reaches up to grab Dean’s other arm, so that they could walk down the aisle all together._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arc one of this story just got finished rough drafting with two more chapters after this one.


	31. The Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I feel like the title explains it all, but the wedding happens. They talk to Michael. And the family grows by one more.

Ellen waves her hand to get Crowley’s attention, so that he could summon up some of the music. They couldn’t play the traditional song, since this wedding had no bride, but they made a decent choice based on Dean’s taste in music. They chose bittersweet symphony. 

Dean smiles over at both Ellen and Bobby as the song starts to play. He takes the first step down the aisle. His eyes water, but he doesn’t let the tears fall. The man above him is the one that he loves, the devil, and one of his dearest friends now. He deserves to be happy. He deserves to this day to be worth all of the ones that came before. 

Lucifer holds Dean’s gaze the whole way down the aisle. The tears in his eyes weren’t because he doesn’t want to have this wedding, like he once would have been sure of. The tears were of happiness because they were going to start a life together. They had made a family together. They were worth more than just a fake wedding, and together they managed to make sure that they had more than a fake wedding. 

Rafael waits until Bobby and Ellen drop Dean off and go to their seats before speaking. “Today, on this momentous occasion, we are gathered to marry Lucifer, son of God, and fallen archangel, to Dean Winchester, the righteous man. This cannot be a normal marriage by standards of either of the cultures of the men who wish to be wed. Angels have only ever bound souls together in times of great duress, and humans have never actually used the full bond of souls to accomplish a wedding. Thus, today we will be setting new standards for the world and the creatures who live here.”

Dean reaches out to grab Lucifer’s hand. He doesn’t need to, but feeling the firm grip calms his nerves. This could be the moment that the future changes forever, or this could be the moment that they all die in a flame as God reigns his will down upon them. 

“I will bind them both in the ways of angels first, then afterwards, they have both written vows to be said to each other in the essence of the human culture. Please join hands.”

Lucifer raises his other hand to catch Dean’s. He smiles soothingly towards Dean. He knows that the man is nervous and for good reason, but today wasn’t about the war they were trying to start anymore, it was about the life that they were going to try to build together, so that the future could be a better place for them both. 

Rafael lays ribbon down upon their wrists and slowly starts tying the bonds together to hold them together for when he starts the rope work on their souls while speaking the words meant to bring joy. He doesn’t even consider the idea that his father could try to stop them. His magic was strong enough to overpower the will of God if he pushed, and today he would push. 

His eyes fall closed so that he can more easily see the different strands of the soul. Once he starts weaving them together, he wills his mouth to speak while he’s on a separate plane. “These two souls have come before the angels of the lord to be bound as one soul. Normally, I would ask about objections, but given the special circumstances of them finding love with each other, I will forgo the norm. Two souls walk into this room, but from this moment onward, only one soul will exist tied as they are between each other.” With that he ties the strings that bind them together.

Dean flinches at the final attachment of the strings. Not because it hurt, but because he’d never even felt such a full body effect before. The strings bound them together in ways that no one else could. He turns to Lucifer and holds up their bound hands.

Lucifer waits for Dean’s reaction to run its course. He’s met many people who would have turned tail at that point even though it would be futile, because the fullness of the bond was too much for them to handle. When Dean raises their hands, he leans forward and presses their lips together in chaste kiss. He knows full well human culture says to wait, but he’s not going to mess around with that right now.

Dean pulls back with a slight chuckle. He’s caught the glare that Bobby is sending Lucifer for acting out of order, but he can’t blame his husband. “My life was full of weird situations. I was a hunter from the time that I was four, and I blamed others for my faults. The one thing that I was truly proud of was never letting Sammy be in danger. And then one day I failed, and he died. So, I made a deal with a demon, my soul for his life. That’s how we met. Those circumstances should have made it to where we never thought of each other as anything less than enemies. Instead, I realized that you are beyond a doubt one of the best people I have ever met. Your soul glows brighter than anything I have ever seen, and I would be honored to spend the rest of my life standing in its glory. I love you, Lucifer, and I want you to be my husband from this day til our last day.”

Lucifer grins as Dean concludes his vows. The words mean more to him than most people in the room. He knows the words that aren’t being said, about his internalized homophobia, about the anger at his mother, about what happened to him in hell. These words were meant for everyone and just him at once. He glances down at the ring that hung on a necklace around his neck. The ring that Dean Winchester gave him before they even admitted to each other that this could ever be love. 

“Dean Winchester, before I met you, I didn’t have the confidence to stand up for myself. I would have been content to let the world blame me for their sins, for my family to be torn to pieces. You reminded me that I deserved more than a broken life. I love you for all of the reasons you gave me to survive and for all of the things you’ve done since then. You deserve more than a fallen angel, but I’ll give you what I can.” He pauses and snaps his wings out to the public for the first time since the fall, heavy on his back after so long ignoring the constant pain. “Be my husband, Dean Winchester, and I’ll be yours for all of time.” 

Rafael smiles as he glances between them. “Then based on the laws of angels and humans, I pronounce you husband and wife.”

Azazel walks out in front of them both with his head held high. “By demonic customs, the wedding night must be official before the wedding is finished, but we have no standards for being crowned king. While we already gave him the title of king, I think he deserves more.” He kneels down on the ground in front of Dean. “From this day until the day that the kingdoms of hell fall, you shall be my king and I shall be your faithful servant.”

The demons from across the ceremony slowly get down on their knees offering various similar pledges. 

Dean turns to glance up at his husband whose staring at him, waiting for his decision. He realizes that this choice falls to him, and him alone. He could brush off the emotions of the demons pledging to him in the way of the old hell, or he could offer them an oath of his own. “I accept all of your vows of service. Know that I will hold them to the same standards that Lucifer holds them to, but I also have a vow to make on this day. For as long as you are my people and this my kingdom, I will allow no one other than your kings to spread their will on this land. If you do not wish to do any of the actions that you have in the past, you have the right to seek an audience with either of your kings to try to change things for you. We will no longer be pawns in a game that we had no intention of playing, we will instead be our own platers in our own game.”

Cheers go up among the crowd as Lucifer places his hand on Dean’s back. His word would have soothed the demons about such changes, but they may not have felt that his words were truthful or all encompassing. He hadn’t changed from being a pawn on his own, but Dean’s words. Those would stick with all of them, because if Dean could drag Lucifer from God’s grace by sheer will alone, then he could save them with that same will. He leans down to whisper in Dean’s ear. “I love you.”

“I love you too. I think that perhaps, we should offer your brother the curtesy of full honesty.”

Lucifer glances towards Michael, standing near Gabriel and Rafael. The smile on his face seemed genuine, and his happiness that his brother was married appeared to be unrivaled by the other archangels. “Between the two of us, you are far better at judging people for that than I am.”

Dean pulls out of the embrace to step towards the other archangels. He doesn’t need to check behind him to know that Lucifer is following him. He smiles at Gabriel and clasps hands with Rafael. “So, Michael, want to come with Lucifer and I for a chat while the rest of the family and party gets this room transformed into a proper ballroom for dancing and honoring the guests.”

Michael blinks. He’d felt the thought but had been relatively confident that Dean would expect him to make his way there on his own. He couldn’t understand a reason for being so open to the others, when they could potentially turn around and backstab you. He’s sure that’s why Lucifer hadn’t wanted to give him that option. “Of course.”

Dean turns again to lead the way. He suspects that the brothers could use the time to connect while they walked. Especially since it would appear that none of the direct children of God had anything close to a happy story. Everything is all terror and doom for them.

Michael falls into step with Lucifer. He should back down and let the other king of hell take his place ahead in the line, but no one seems to be basing anything off of any of the rules that he’s known before. Honestly, some of them seem to actively defy any amount of rank. Demons teasing each other, teasing the one who clearly had some importance to both Dean and Lucifer. He didn’t understand.

Lucifer could feel the confusion rolling off his big brother. God had done a number on him knowing what it was like to live in an area where ruling isn’t the same as tyranny and what a family is. He trails his hand behind him and catches Michael’s.

Michael clutches the hand in his. He doesn’t understand that either, but that’s alright. Now that Lucifer has a grip on him, it will all be fine. They’ll all be trusted to figure out what needs to be done next, and he doesn’t have to worry about it anymore. 

Dean opens the door and glides both of t hem into the room. “Let me start by saying thank you, Michael for actually coming to the wedding. Neither of us were sure whether you were going to.”

“Is it alright to admit that I wasn’t sure that I was going to come either?”

Lucifer laughs. Of course, his brother hadn’t made the decision with any forethought. He had just done what he thought was right and would go from there. “Just means that some things remained the same after all of these years.”

Michael gulps. He has more questions, but if his brother wants to yell first, he’ll wait. He deserves the anger that he’s sure both his brother and his brother’s new husband feel after he turned tail and hid. He should have fought for his brother, but God wasn’t wrong. That wasn’t a possible option.

Dean noticed the tension growing around Michael and rolls his eyes. He’s expecting something similar to what Rafael thought. “You’re going to be okay, Michael. No one here in this room or out at that wedding is going to try to convince you that you did something wrong. Only you can decide whether you made the right choice or not.”

“Why are you being kind to me? I hurt your husband.”

Lucifer tugs Michael until Michael is close enough that he can wrap his arms around Michael. “You are my brother. That’s enough. Family hurts each other sometimes, what’s important is that we find ways to move past the pain dealt onto us by others.”

Dean stares at Michael waiting to see whether the tension would drop, but it didn’t move. “Michael, Lucifer tends to like domination.” He waves off Lucifer’s concern, focusing instead on the angel in front of his husband. For right now, he needed to patch together one in order to come close to a reasonable solution. “Do you need it?”

Michael closes his eyes. He doesn’t want the human to be able to dig up all the hidden pieces of himself that he’s made sure stay buried over the years to try to hide the pain that he’s been forced into. “Ever since Lucifer fell. I followed orders, if I just keep following them the decisions aren’t mine.”

“They are,” Dean whispers. “Those decisions, the ones that weigh on you while you try to block them out, they were yours. Maybe you made them for better reasons, because someone you trusted told you to, but they’re still yours. Look at me, Michael.”

Michael’s eyes open to glue on Dean’s. 

“We’re going to take him down. We’re going to make him pay for what he did. He doesn’t get to make decisions for everyone.”

Michael swallows as hard as he can to choke down the immediate protest that comes to mind. Instead, he turns to Lucifer. “If I help you, if I stand by you this time, rather than running to hide behind God, will you find a way to forgive me?”

Lucifer sighs. He’s starting to see why Dean had asked the previous question. His brother was trying really hard to not fall into a pattern of making the wrong choice, but he couldn’t see what the problems were anymore. In fact, if Lucifer had to guess, he’d say his brother had been following God’s instructions to the letter ever since he left. “No.”

Michael tries to pull away, but Lucifer’s arms tighten around him, keeping him from coming anywhere near to running away. 

“No, Michael, you helping me won’t make me find a way to forgive you. Because you didn’t have to do anything other than show up here today to ensure that I would forgive you. Do you know why?”

Michael stops struggling and turns to Lucifer. “Because we’re family.”

“Yes, because we’re family, and because Dean Winchester, the amazing human I just married, made me see that both sides were wrong back then.”

Dean coughs. Only Lucifer would find a way to try to wrap all of this back to him somehow. “I did nothing of the sort, I just pointed out that trying to blame people for following God’s orders might be a little unrealistic. Not everyone can be as awesome as me and ready to throw caution to the wind.” He takes another look at Michael, and the way that he starts releasing all of the tension that has kept since the beginning of the wedding. “Michael, you don’t have to make any decisions tonight. We already have rooms for plenty of angels, we can give you one. Stick with us for a day or two after the wedding to try to patch up this family, then we can figure out where we go from here,” he offers.

“The least I can do, since you were willing to give up portions of your wedding to try to make sure that I would be okay. Most people wouldn’t have come even close to doing that, and I want to find a way to offer my thanks.”

Dean walks over and plants himself into Lucifer’s side so that one of his arms leaves the embrace with Michael to tuck Dean into his side. “You don’t have to offer me thanks or anything else. If no one else ever figured out how to fight for this family, that’s alright. None of you had to, you just had to find me.”

Michael pulls out of Lucifer’s arm to stare at Dean. Then, he wraps his arms around Dean. He takes comfort from the way that they can hold the human to him, and the way that Dean doesn’t even flinch when he gets close to him. “Thank you anyway,” he whispers. Before, he walks out of the room, determined to go find one of his other brothers and demand a couple more answers about the human and how on Earth anyone ever came to be around this human to the point that he would be willing to start a fight to save them.

Lucifer tightens his arms around Dean after Michael leaves. “We need to head out there soon.”

Dean leans into Lucifer with his eyes drifting closed. “Give me a minute. I’m pretty sure I just convinced another archangel to take on God, because of the fact that he’s been submissive the whole time.”

“I never had any doubts. If anyone could change the fate of the world, it would be you.”

Dean lets out a single chuckle before stretching up to kiss Lucifer. “I may not say it first often, but I love you, Lucifer. I don’t think I would be doing half of this, if I didn’t.”

“Just do me a favor, and don’t ask my big brother to join us in the bedroom.”

Dean fails to keep his laughter in check with that one. He just starts giggling and doesn’t stop, allowing his weight to fall on Lucifer to keep him from crumbling. “I wasn’t going to. Yours is sexual, because it’s the easiest way to remind you that you can still trust people. His is more basic, he wants someone to make sure that he doesn’t hurt people ever again, and if he needs help doing that, I will be more than happy to do that. I’d need to talk to him to make sure that he understands that this wouldn’t be a relationship or sexual, but it could be something that allows him to trust again,” he finally manages to explain.

Lucifer wiggles his eyebrows. “I figured, but that made you stop thinking about what we’re doing here with this wedding, and that was my goal. I love you too, my wonderful human, even if you don’t say it first, I know. Because your actions speak much louder than your words, and they always tell me that you’ll stop the whole world to save me.”

Dean tucks his head into the crook of Lucifer’s neck. “I’m pretty sure I did that for Sammy already in this universe and more than a few times in the other one.”

Lucifer presses a kiss to Dean’s head. “Yes. That’s why I’m so honored that you’ve managed to transfer that love over to someone that’s as broken as me.”

“You were broken, now you’re in the process of learning how to put the pieces together.”

“When did you learn how to put those pieces back together?”

“When I realized that I was willing to die for my brother, that nothing I did would ever be enough to get my father to say that he was proud of me, that no matter how broken I pretended to be, I would never actually break any further. It’s the same reason that while one day Alistair would have convinced me that I needed to torture people to make the pain stop for a moment, he never would have gotten me to be a demon. I had already hit the point of no return, and I stared it in the face.”

“The you from the other universe would be telling you that it could get so much worse than where you were,” Lucifer points out.

“That me doesn’t exist in this timeline. It doesn’t matter what he would say or what he had done to him. Maybe someone managed to break that version of me, but they didn’t do shit to this one yet, and this one has you.”

“You, Dean Winchester, are a sap.”

“So are you, but no more chick flick moments, we’ve got to go do our first dance.”

Lucifer pulls back to wrap his arm around Dean, so that they could leave arm in arm as they head out of the room in silence. He uses their new connection to send the same love over to him, just to be annoying.

Dean doesn’t say anything as the people all stare as they enter the dance floor. They hadn’t really talked about what song they wanted to do for their first dance, but given that Gabriel said he wasn’t planning on pulling any tricks, and Rafael was there to temper any potential chaos, he decides to trust in their choices. 

They link hands and wait for the music. The song starts playing and while Dean can’t quite place it at first. Then, he realizes that Gabriel has switched the pronouns in the song, and he was listening and dancing to She Will Be Loved, but as He Will Be Loved. He wonders which one is which that the others are willing to guess. 

Gabriel smiles as the first song ends and the two start mingling with the crowds to talk to various people that need introductions. He notices eyes on him, so he turns around to be face to face with Sam.

“Hey, I thought I should probably come tell you sorry and stuff. I wasn’t really trying to upset anyone earlier, just all of this is literally insane, and I don’t want Dean getting hurt,” Sam starts.

Gabriel gets struck with the understanding that most of the humans in this family have no idea what all went down before, and the fact that most of them are truly only concerned with Dean, and whether he’ll be safe in whatever life ends up coming after all of this. “You don’t have to apologize to me. As much as I couldn’t understand it earlier, I pieced together why later.”

“Did it hurt you?”

“Well yes.”

“Then you deserve an apology, even if what I did was understandable or at the end of the day, I would do it again every time, doesn’t mean that you should have to deal with it. You deserve better than to just be hurt, Gabriel or would you prefer trickster?”

Gabriel laughs. “Alright, Sam Sammy Winchester, we can play that game. Would you like to dance tonight?”

Sam takes the outstretched hand and gets led out to the dance floor.

Dean pokes Lucifer’s shoulder as they end another conversation about what will happen to hell once the angels have left, and they’ve replied that they will hold court before any firm decisions were made. “Looks like the little brothers have made peace.”

Off in another corner, Castiel stands alone. No one else came from the lower ranks of the angels, so he doesn’t really have anyone to talk to. He could potentially try to talk to one of the archangels, but this was their brother’s marriage, they didn’t need to be dealing with the fact that another angel doesn’t know what to do with himself after everything.

Azazel catches sight of the angel and drops down next to him. “What do you think?”

“Of what?” Castiel asks, not sure why the demon came up to him.

“Anything really. If you want specifics to answer, what do you think of the kings of hell? What do you think of hell?”

“I think that one of your kings is a fallen angel, who has somehow had his wings restored, though not from the grace of God. I don’t know what that means. I doubt that anyone knows what that means. The other king happens to be human, which I think could easily end up being one of the greatest mistakes that anyone has ever made. I don’t know how, but that will change the fate of the world, and I’m not sure that we’ll be the good version. As for hell, what I’ve seen of the place, it’s no different than any other realm, just another perspective.”

Azazel shakes his head at the angel. “Seriously, man, you need to let loose. When was the last time that you did something and didn’t spend hours wondering what every single potential consequence could be?”

“I could hurt someone doing that,” Castiel points out.

“Yes, pain is often a consequence of making choices, but without them we’d never do anything. Do you think that Lucifer and Dean thought of all of the many potential issues with them being in love?”

“No, of course not, otherwise they would be hiding their feelings for each other, not getting married in front of the entirety of the court.”

Azazel nods. He’s starting to understand the mindset of angels, they think it would be better to never do anything in order to avoid doing anything that could ever cause pain. That’s not the worst position to take. “Are you willing to dance?”

“With whom?”

Azazel closes his eyes and counts to ten. He can barely handle the stupidity of the younger demons, this angel might make him lose his mind. Then again, that same angel had argued for him without even knowing him. He was going to try for this one. “Me.”

Castiel blinks. He could use words to accept, but the demon seems fed up with answers. Probably the differences between angels and demons. He’d need to learn the cultural differences, if they were to be friends for long. He places his hand on top of Azazel’s.

That’s how Castiel and Azazel ended up on the dance floor with Sam and Gabriel and Lucifer and Dean. The songs move in time with them. All of them with true smiles on their faces. 

Michael leans against the wall, watching the married couple and the friends spin on the dance floor, when another human walks up to him. 

“You joining the family?” Ellen asks. She needs to start making lists of how many people she needs to cook for when family gatherings occur, because she’ll lose her mind relying on others to do that job.

“I’d like to.”

Ellen shakes her head. “You stupid angels. If you want to be a part of the extended family as we combine these families, then you are. Simple as that.”

“And you are?” Michael’s lips curl up into a smile at the woman. More than likely a mother figure for Dean and Sam since their mother had been dead for such a long period of time.

“Ellen. Come on, I’ll introduce the others as they come by.”

Dean relaxes as he realizes that for today, they won’t have to worry about any of the retribution for going against the grand plans of God. They averted an apocalypse and found love. For the rest of the night that would be enough. More than enough.


	32. The Wedding Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut. Just smut.

Lucifer tugs on Dean’s arm to get him to move towards the edge of the room. “Let’s go have our wedding night rather than dance for hours.”

Dean chuckles but moves with Lucifer all the same. He gestures at Azazel to let him know that the newlyweds will be leaving the wedding soon. He’s pretty sure the best men were supposed to give a speech, but they’ve tossed so many traditions today, he won’t lose sleep over that.

Sam catches his wave and moves over. “Are you both going to sneak out of your own wedding?”

Lucifer laughs as he realizes that for once the tone of judgment in the younger man’s voice was both a judgement, but also showing that he cared about them enough to ask them about what they were thinking. “We’re both kings, trying to get any private time will be difficult enough tomorrow, maybe we want a good night.”

Sam quirks his lips into a smile. “I think between the three archangels, two princes of hell, and stubborn humans, we’ll be able to get you the morning off. We’ll cover for both of you until you decide that you don’t need or want it.”

Lucifer shrugs. The offer is genuine, and there’s no reason to ask for a reason on the wedding day, this could easily just be a wedding present given to them by multiple people. He tugs on Dean’s arm again to try to convince his husband that they should stop wasting time dealing with humans, and come with him back to their room.

Dean chuckles at the second tug. He’ll admit that by the fourth time he spun around that dance floor in Lucifer’s arms, he was ready to head to the bedroom himself. He turns on his heel giving Sam a wave while heading out. He doesn’t wait for anyone else to interrupt them. Once they’re in the hallways of hell, and most everyone was still in the ballroom, he pushes Lucifer against the wall and presses them together while tilting his head up. “Impatient.”

Lucifer loves the feel of Dean’s strength all around him, but for tonight he has a gut-feeling that taking the lead will be better for both of them. It’ll dispel some of Dean’s worries, and it won’t be the worst idea in case any of the demons ask for the memories as proof that they had sex. He flips them around where Dean presses against the cool stone and slams their mouths together in a rough kiss.

Dean breathes as his back hits the wall. The mouth against his isn’t nearly as hard as he knows that Lucifer could make it, if he had a desire to, so he pushes his tongue into the other man’s mouth. They rest there making out against the wall like a couple of teenagers. Happy as can be with each other.

Lucifer pulls back as he hears footsteps nearby and casts a spell to make them both invisible. Just a random couple of demons, but still they probably should make it to their room before they start shedding clothes. His spells might be good, but with Gabriel being the little shit, he’d probably work on tearing it down just to tease his older brother about not waiting to be in his own room. “So impatient, love.”

Dean pushes himself off the wall and takes Lucifer’s hand back in his. They end up walking at a semi normal pace to their room. Normally after a make-out session like that he’d be running to make sure that the mood doesn’t dim before they reach the bed, but with his husband he doubts that needing a simple reminder of the shared love between them.

Lucifer keeps pace with his human without trouble. For once he’s not rushing from one bit of chaos until another, he’s letting the happiness of being wed take him. He’s letting the panic from a million sources lie. They can’t touch him today, today belongs to Dean Winchester. 

Dean walks into their room first, toeing off the dress shoes which may be the only bit of the clothing attire that he can remove manually without assistance. An archangel had magicked it on him, so he can’t really use previous memory to help him out.

Lucifer steps closer, and he debates just vanishing both the outfits to the closet to stare at and not worry about any of the removing articles of clothing issues that are no doubt in Dean’s head. In the end though, he’d prefer slowly undressing his husband piece by piece. “Let me,” he offers reaching out to the button holding his suit jacket closed.

Dean nods and lets himself fall back towards the bed, clipping Lucifer’s legs on his way down to make sure that Lucifer fell down on top of him. He reaches out and pushes the jacket off of Lucifer’s body, and the jacket fades out of his hands. 

Lucifer laughs as he reaches up to cup Dean’s face and pepper kisses along his cheek bones. “I think my brother figured that we wouldn’t be patient enough to hang up his super rich fabric tonight.”

Dean twists under Lucifer to bring their lips together in a gentle kiss as his hands reach up and fumble with the buttons. Sure, Lucifer asked him first, but he’s the one getting distracted. Soon he has the suit off and gone to wherever Gabriel decided they deserved the clothes to be. 

Lucifer moves his hands to stop Dean’s from progressing any further and actually leave him shirtless, while Dean still has all of his clothes on. He carefully tugs the jacket from Dean’s frame, only moving him, never breaking the kiss. Gentle, slow. Two things that he wasn’t even remotely known for, and his husband was letting him set the pace of the night.

Dean realizes rather quickly that Lucifer doesn’t plan on having this be some fast and furious love-making like last time. This time he plans on making Dean realize just how much Lucifer loves him, and he relaxes into the gentle strokes of hands and the lips against his.

Lucifer unbuttons the suit himself as gently as he can. Looks like only one of them got the undershirt today. He moves away from Dean’s lips to trail his lips down the man’s chest as he presses a kiss as more skin is uncovered, slow and steady. Button after button.

When Lucifer raises himself up to peel the sleeves off and toss the shirt to the pit of Gabriel’s decision, Dean reaches forward and drags his shirt up. He pulls it over his head, and he knows that on a normal day where this was an act of passion between two lovers, he’d twist it to make sure that his husband was at his mercy for a couple minutes, but this time he just keeps tugging it off the arms. His hands start tracing the muscles across Lucifer’s chest. 

Lucifer lets the right hand continue the gentle exploration but catches the left one on the next pass. He brings the hand up and presses a kiss to the back of the knuckles, before letting Dean’s suit fall off that arm. Then, he puts the hand on his hip.

Dean offers up the other hand without hesitating. Just waiting to see what Lucifer will do with blatant permission to keep the pace just as slow or speed up. He’s half-hard in his suit pants, and he couldn’t care less when they get to that part of him. He’s surrounded in love, and he’s almost positive that Lucifer can feel that same amount love all around him.

Lucifer takes the offered hand and starts trailing kisses across every finger and knuckle before tugging on the arm. Dean’s body collides with his, back pressed to chest, with the suit dangling in pieces around them. He pulls of the suit and lets the thing vanish, before skirting his hands up and down Dean’s chest. 

Dean arches into the touches content in the moment. To be honest he’s not sure that he’d care if God himself interrupted them tonight, he’d just kill the bastard right then. He might not have a true plan on how to handle killing a god or what the consequences of his decisions could be, but he’s decided that he doesn’t really care about what he can do, he’ll do what he needs to do to keep the angel in front of him for eternity. 

Lucifer’s fingers trail around Dean’s nipples causing them to harden. Little short portions of pleasure, causing Dean to thrust up into the air. Slowly, but surely, he lets his hands drift lower towards the pants of his lover, waiting for Dean to give him complete permission. 

Dean pulls away after a couple more minutes to turn to Lucifer. Lucifer had banished his wings once the dances had started because he didn’t want to have them brushing against everyone in their massiveness. “Love, show me your wings. For tonight, let me love all of you.”

Lucifer allows the wings to unfold in the room. Blinding white feathers, the wings that could lead the humans even in the darkest night. The most beautiful of angels he was once called, now his name almost never came with anything but scorn. Except when his human would blind him with praise that he wasn’t expecting. His smile soft and trusting. “For tonight we only allow love in this room, but any and every night you ask for this, I will give it to you,” he whispers the promise into the air of the room.

Dean reaches out and brushes his fingers across the wings in front of him. He trusts the words echoing in the room. No matter what happens next, if Dean asks him for something simple and sweet, like a night full of only love, Lucifer will find a way to make sure that it happens. But of the two of them, he’s not the one that needs the approval such actions will garner. “The same goes for you.”

The smiles are mirrored on the other’s face as they both allow their partner to give them the pleasure of being loved for the time. Neither one of them moves to remove any pants, not for another hour of gentle touches. 

Dean strokes and learns where muscles connect to wings. He’s slowly making sure that every single portion of the wings that have been hurt by various others, mostly family, will have his touch on them as well. He told Lucifer that when the mark craves pain, that he can handle hurting Lucifer, but he’s starting to wonder whether that will ever be a true statement. He’s going to be willing to die before causing Lucifer any pain that he didn’t ask for. In fact, he’d put his money, on the mark trying to force him into doing something outside the limits, and Dean fighting it back. That will always be his decision. 

Lucifer on the other hand basks in the glory of being allowed to cause something other than pain to a human for long periods of time in a row. There’s no fear of damage. There’s no fear of him in the other man’s eyes. Dean Winchester truly loves him, and always will. 

Eventually, Lucifer leans down and pulls of his suit pants and underwear so that he’s finally nude in front of his husband, so that all of his skin could be available for Dean to explore. His cock has been half-hard for most of the night now, and he doesn’t reach down to pleasure himself, he just leans back into Dean’s gentle hands.

Dean smiles as more skin become an option for him to explore and navigate. He really wants to just take Lucifer’s cock in his mouth right now, so he allows his mouth to start trailing kisses down Lucifer’s body the same way that he did just moments before. “Can I?”

Lucifer nods, not trusting himself with words as Dean leans forward and takes him into his mouth. He leans backwards and grips the bedsheets with his hands as Dean brings him closer and closer to the edge. Right before he can come, Dean pulls off his cock and starts undoing his own pants and underwear. 

“I think perhaps you should be in me when you come for the point of making sure that no one can claim this is an illegitimate marriage.”

Lucifer rolls back up pushing his own desires back to run his hand down to Dean’s cock and tug on it in the ways that he knew Dean liked from their first time. He pulls Dean back onto the bed where he’s lying there on his stomach. One good thing about being an angel is that lube will never be the main problem, he has the ability to summon it from anywhere else.

He starts circling Dean’s hole, and he notices that the discomfort that would have been there the first time is gone. All he gets is Dean pushing back into him asking him for more. Slowly, he pushes one finger into Dean.

Dean clenches for a moment before he convinces his body to relax and let Lucifer do what needs to be done so that he can finally be one with his husband in the most intimate way.

Lucifer waits just pumping the one finger in and out before adding another finger, this time aiming to his Dean’s prostate in order to see Dean lose himself to the pleasure of sensations brought by his hand.

Dean jerks when pleasure racks up his body as Lucifer hits one part of him. He gasps out and pushes himself back, reaching back to touch Lucifer.

Lucifer brackets Dean’s body with his own, so that Dean can feel him as he continues to finger Dean. He’ll wait until Dean asks him for more before he’ll give him anything else, that way Dean is in complete control. That might help any of the lingering nerves, and that will calm Lucifer’s rolling thoughts as well.

Dean lasts about two minutes before he realizes what Lucifer wants. “Please, Lucifer, will you take me?”

Lucifer chuckles lightly, but he removes his fingers. He lubes up his own cock just staring down at his husband, but not being able to see his face seems like a shame, so he takes care of that by flipping Dean over.

Dean leans up and presses his lips against Lucifer’s as Lucifer enters him.

Lucifer waits until Dean seems comfortable again, then he starts gently rocking himself in and out, in a slow and steady pace.

Dean’s orgasm catches them both for a surprise because he doesn’t feel the normal tension in his body, he just explodes when Lucifer starts rocking his hips at a slightly faster pace.

Lucifer comes soon after as Dean’s body clenches down on him throughout his orgasm. He magicks away all of the potential messes with a snap and pulls Dean against him. 

Dean’s eyes flutter closed as he lets the exhaustion take him, but before he lets sleep take him all of the way into the darkness, he mutters over to Lucifer. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter from the first arc where Lucifer and Dean fall in love and get married. Next, how do they deal with hell?


	33. The Compromise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slight time skip over some basic arguments that have been happening for a couple months until Dean and Lucifer come to a compromise of sorts.

Months have passed since the wedding. Primarily just Dean and Lucifer trying to make sure that God couldn’t potentially destroy their entire domain and people because he was angry about the wedding. The almost constant natural disasters on the human side of Earth can attest to the fact that his anger is being felt even if he’s not directing it at them yet. Plus, both of them agreed that trying to do anything bolder with their end goals would require some amount of planning.

They agreed Dean did have to get the mark first, that’s about all that they’ve agreed on. Past that there are conflicting votes. Some people, Lucifer and most of the humans, want them to reform the system of hell and have a stable country before anything else is attempted. Dean, and the other angels and demons, all agree that freeing Amara should be their next best bet. That way when God inevitably realizes that they are going to change the way the world works in such a spectacular function, they’d have back up.

The argument runs its course almost every night, although both Dean and Lucifer make sure the other never goes to bed angry with them. A healthy dose of realism and relationship work, for them both. 

Dean knows as the door closes behind them that the current family debate would be brought up again. Primarily because they both want their husband on their side, and right now they were leading the council for opposing views. “Lucifer, darling, tonight can we have the discussion actually under the covers of the bed and cuddling rather than just storming back and forth between the edges of this room?”

Lucifer blinks. This is the first time that Dean hasn’t just launched into the argument or waited him out to see what his first part of such an argument could be. Maybe this was a way of telling Lucifer that this was going to get resolved tonight, one way or the other. That’d be nice, not only for them to be able to plan for things, but also just to have some amount of breathing room. He nods.

Dean starts stripping so he’s down to only boxers, and he curls up on the bed. He can tell that Lucifer is still hesitating because he’s checking to make sure that there is no way that this could be a trap. Some habits are too engrained to fight, and Dean’s not willing to try to force the point that Lucifer can trust him, because Lucifer knows that on a base level.

Lucifer stays standing for a couple of minutes expecting Dean to get fed up and stand back up to drag him down, but Dean doesn’t move, just keeps his eyes open and waits for him. Eventually, Lucifer’s hands move to start undoing his clothes, although he shakes more than normal.

Dean notices the slight shake to his husband’s hands and makes another decision right then. The constant arguments aren’t good for either of them, and he hates the idea of bringing more pain to Lucifer, so even with the mark he’s going to find a way to ensure that the only ways that he hurt Lucifer are ones that will bring him pleasure at the same time. “Come here, love.”

The gentle voice is what finally coaxes Lucifer into falling into Dean’s arms, curled up around the bed. Normally, when they end up in the bed cuddling, it’s Dean being the little spoon because he’s so much tinier than Lucifer, but today Lucifer curls up into a ball where Dean can surround him. Tiny tremors rack through his body as he fights back the urge to beg for Dean not to say anything tonight. They need to make a decision which means they have to keep trying to convince the other one of their opinion. 

“Shh, Lucifer, you’re safe. If you tell me you need me to ignore every single portion of my own feelings telling me to keep fighting, I will. You are more important than my opinions on how to screw over God in the most poetic revolution of all time.”

Lucifer can’t help the sob that comes tearing out of him at that, because Dean shouldn’t have to bury his own emotions, just because Lucifer can’t take another argument. Dean shouldn’t pay the price for him being broken by the people who were supposed to keep him safe. None of this was fair to either of them. He just wants for his own father to be a decent man, or failing that option, he wants his Aunt Amara to remind him that just because you don’t know what love is doesn’t mean that you can’t slowly figure out ways to love in your own way.

Dean reaches a hand and brushes away Lucifer’s tears. He keeps a steady pressure at Lucifer’s back, and he prays. Not to God, that man deserves to rot in the darkest corner of his kingdom that he can find, but to Amara. The darkness is what the other angels call her. He asks her whether he’s about to do the right thing, and that he hopes that she’ll forgive him when the time comes to make a deal. He knows already that when they release her, he’ll be the one standing in front of her, because he’ll be carrying the mark that stands in her way. He knows already that he’ll be the first words she hears in the thousands of years she’s been locked away, and he knows his words will be to plead on behalf on her nephews, to take them back because they didn’t know just how evil their Father was. What he doesn’t know yet, but probably should is that he’s the one person in the entire universe that Amara feels will never have to apologize. He’s the one that’s causing her family to knit itself back together to come get her. He’s the one that will save her. He owes her no apology because he is responsible for the brightness in her life. 

Amara can’t give him an answer. Not now, not sitting in her cell where God locked her. She can’t offer him every single thing in her power. She can’t offer him the alliance. She can’t offer her sponsorship into immortality to be with the angel he loves forever. Not yet, but she knows that no matter what choice he makes right now, it will be the right one, because Dean Winchester is the best being that she’s ever met, not just in this universe, but all of them. Even when he turns to the dark side, he always does it for the right reasons. 

Dean brushes the hair out of Lucifer’s eyes so that Lucifer can see his eyes from where Dean leans over him. “You win. I’ll take the mark, and I’ll help you build up this place into a base that even God can’t get into. I only have one condition, one thing to make sure that I don’t break while I do this.”

Lucifer presses back into him in shock. Never did he think that Dean would give in to his suggestions. Especially since he had the backing of the more powerful members of this family. None of this night made any sense. His brain starts to shut off to tell him that all of this was clearly evidence that something had gone horribly wrong. 

Dean presses a hand to his cheek, drawing him back into the present. “No. I don’t know what thoughts just passed through your mind, but you’re wrong. Yes, I will have to work on your brothers to convince them to come around, the second I change my opinion the demons in our family will switch sides because we are more than just their friends, and they’ll never stand against our actions. And even if your brothers choose not to agree with us, they’re never going to stand against you. We don’t fight each other when we don’t agree. Family doesn’t tear each other apart. That’s not how healthy family works, and Ellen will slap an archangel if they muck with her family. Death sentence or not.”

Lucifer has to give a laugh at that mental image, because Dean is right. Ellen would slap any of them for even thinking that his brothers would hurt him, and she’d do much worse if any of them chose to try to bring another pain. She’d tell off humans, demons, and angels all the same. She would be maternal to them all until she died. “What do you need to survive this, Dean? Let us figure this out before we wake up in the morning. Let me sleep tonight knowing that me and you have this plan, and everything else will fall into place.”

“Tell me what types of pain can bring you pleasure, so I never cross that line. I can’t handle crossing that line.”

Lucifer flinches as he burrows closer to Dean. This topic was hard to talk about, because what he likes isn’t healthy. But they need to talk about that, because Dean couldn’t handle truly hurting him. He’d keep the mark at bay with torture of horrible humans in hell, and he’d hurt his lover in the ways that would bring some amount of pleasure, and they’d walk a tiny line until they had a good enough way to get all of the protections they needed against God. 

Dean starts running his hands in comforting patterns around Lucifer’s neck and back. He knows that this is hard for Lucifer to talk about, so he’ll help out. He’ll make this as painless for both of them as he can manage. Once, Lucifer starts to relax under his touch, he puts more pressure on Lucifer’s neck until he has almost a choke hold on him. “Choking?” he asks making sure that his voice is as steady as possible. 

Lucifer’s eyes go wide as he recognizes the familiar hand around his throat holding him in the position. He could buck out of the grip without any trouble, because he’s the devil and this is at best a minor issue, but he also feels his cock growing hard in his boxers. He ducks his head in a nod. 

Dean chokes on his laugh as he realizes that Lucifer will probably lose his mind. He reaches his other hand down to Lucifer’s lap and lets his hand snap into a smack across Lucifer’s ass. The strength behind the hit isn’t even remotely enough of his mortal strength to cause Lucifer a bit of discomfort, but his point gets across. 

Lucifer jerks in the grip around his neck as he slams back into Dean. Not even bothering to try to hide the intensity of the desire in his eyes. 

Dean chuckles at that one as he wraps one leg around Lucifer’s to keep him pressed that closely to him. “I’m going to take that as an enthusiastic yes. So my hand, definitely. Paddles? Belts? Crops? Whips? Any limits?”

Lucifer’s breath come out in gasps as he realizes what all that Dean is asking him. He’s asking about what he can use to take him across the boundary of pleasure and pain until he’s floating in the hazy fuzz that he craves so deeply sometimes. “I like quite a lot of pain when it comes to spanking, but I’d prefer if you never used a paddle,” he says. The first words he’s been able to speak since Dean had started this portion of the conversation. 

“No paddles. Got it.” Dean smiles as he continues brushing up and down with his free hand. The hand resting over the muscles giving him his healed wings. “I’m also going to throw out here that as my limit, I’m never going to touch you wings with pain in mind. You’ve had too much happen there for me to feel comfortable giving you that type of pain.”

Lucifer nods immediately. He appreciates the forethought of Dean to make sur that his wings would never be a target of any distasteful attacks spurred on by the mark. He’s not sure what his response would be if Dean suddenly was one of the many people he loved that attacked his wings. Well, he could imagine breaking down in tears and stopping any form of trust. But now, he should offer his own opinions on pain. “I don’t mind pain focusing on my dick, I prefer not to bleed, and I don’t like to be penetrated without some prep.”

Dean presses a kiss to his shoulder. “What about the pain of denial?”

Lucifer chuckles lightly as he realizes that Dean’s probably going to check off the little boxes he formed in his head to make sure that both of them stay safe as they try their hardest to navigate the murkiest water they have. “I like that.”

Dean grins and maneuvers them both back down into the cushions of the bed, where they could actually conceivably be able to sleep. He continues light strokes across Lucifer and allows a small thank you to Amara. He has no idea whether she can hear him, but he hopes that she understands that he’ll do anything for the people that he loves, even if that means defying gods and other beings older than the concept of time.

Amara hears, and Amara smiles for the first time in almost 500 years. She knows that her boys have finally found a family, one that won’t be torn apart when God tries. And try he will. This time it is their time to shine, and she’ll bide her time until Dean Winchester comes for her, and then she’ll remind them all why darkness is to be praised along with feared.


	34. The Explanation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean now has to explain to every other immortal being in their family that he plans on letting the mark stay on his skin for as long as it takes to make sure that everyone is ready to meet with Amara, regardless of whether that's a good plan or not.

Dean forces himself to wake up long before Lucifer would even consider this rest worthwhile, because last night drained him, and he’ll need sleep, and Dean needs to find some archangels and demons. So, he throws on his normal court clothes and steps into hell. The fact that these hallways were the most familiar thing that he had ever felt except for Baby should worry him, but this was his home. “Crowley?”

Crowley appears in front of Dean as poised as ever. He’s honestly used to both his kings summoning at the weirdest times that they possibly could. He used to believe that these were tests and potentially games, but now he knows that it’s just because they’re both insane. “My king.”

Dean glances at him and keeps walking down the hallway. He’s should probably get them all in one space and argue with them all at once that way he can be sure that he’s confident in his own decisions, but he’s just enough of a coward not to do that. “I’ll be taking the mark long before we go to Amara.”

Crowley blinks. Of all of the words out of Dean’s mouth those one surprised him most, but he keeps his composure. “I will follow your lead as your subject as you would expect, King Dean. But may I speak as a member of this family we created, and as your friend for a minute or several?”

Dean smiles over at Crowley. They weren’t friends for nearly as long in this universe as they were in the other one, but no matter the personal cost, the demon always made sure to try to be both a subordinate and a friend. “Anytime. You know that.”

“Why? I know that we haven’t convinced in of the members of the other side to join us, but that seems to be the reason for staying the course until something happens that changes all of us or some of them.”

Dean nods as he considers those words. Normally, he’d agree and say that digging in his heels was the best solution, but they weren’t trying to do something normal, they were trying to do something unheard of. “If we do nothing, then we all put ourselves and everyone else in danger for however long it takes to convince them. Lucifer can’t bring himself to ask for Amara’s forgiveness yet, so I can’t force him down that road, which means the only option left is the one that we must take.”

Crowley bangs his head against the wall nearest to them. He can’t argue that Lucifer had a whole set of issues when it comes to anything involving his aunt, but Dean’s the only one that could bring him around. If Dean gave up, then they’d never have the man power to stop God. Because four archangels, an army of demons, and a handful of humans were not up to par with the strength of God. 

“You misunderstand me, my friend. I’m going to convince him to confront his aunt, but not now. Not before we have a safety net here in case God finds out the plan. Not until we at least have the perception of having a backup plan. That way the future that Lucifer believes to be inevitable doesn’t come to pass.”

Crowley’s head shoots up as he stares at Dean. Of course his king would be brilliant enough to build a safety net against God and Amara, that way Lucifer would no longer have anything to fear when they went there to plead for forgiveness from the Darkness. “Because he still doesn’t believe she’ll forgive him.”

“Yep, and I’ll have a bone to pick to her about why all her nephews are terrified later.”

Crowley keeps walking, ahead noticing that Dean was slowly heading to the rooms of the archangels. No doubt to try to convince them of the same thing. That this time they need to let Lucifer have the safety net before they try to piss off another potential God. “So, I’m in charge of?”

“You’re in charge of figuring out where Cain is so that I can go get a mark as soon as we get the whole family approval thing cleared.”

As Crowley disappears, Dean turns to the corridor where Azazel stands. His back is unnaturally straight as if he expects to be punished for listening in on a conversation. Honestly, Dean could actually start hitting people for making so many members of his family come from abusive situations, but the only three that didn’t are Bobby, Ellen, and Jo, so that track record doesn’t inspire confidence. “Questions.”

“Only one my king, what will we do when you break our other king?”

“Pray to Amara that I can put him back together again. I’ve slowly hit the point of understanding that the only option that I still have left open to me is to break him and prove that he can trust me to put him back together again. He won’t fully trust me until I do, so the plan has to be this way,” Dean explains.

Azazel nods. “I hate it, but I understand. If you ever decide that you aren’t waiting for family approval and are going to go bargain with Amara alone, I will help.”

Dean purses his lips into a scowl because he knows that the words are meant to give him another option, another out, but that won’t stop Lucifer from taking it as betrayal and it won’t save any of them from suffering his wrath. “No. We do this as a family or not at all. There’s no point in any of this if we all end up broken in the end anyway.”

Azazel cracks a smile. Then, his eyes flash softly. “I’ve called both you and Lucifer my king. And I once called Lucifer my father.” He waits for Dean to nod in understanding. “I’m going to go back to calling him that because I would prefer him to know that I love him more than just a loyal follower.”

“If you are asking for my permission, you do not need it. You are family, you are always welcome to choose to make the family a bit more complicated and hold a bit more love.”

“I’m asking for your permission, but not for what you seem to think. I was stating fact, I’m going to call Lucifer my father once more. As his husband, and as the person who has dragged me into his family, I would like something affectionate to call you as well, but you are younger than me, and I don’t know what to call you.”

Dean laughs as he realizes the broken comments were quite literally Azazel trying to lead up to this question. “The asshole in me wants you to call me daddy just to watch people freak out, but that won’t help either of us. You can choose to call me whatever you want. Whatever will make you happy, but if you want a proper name, you can call me papa or dad or hell the other father. Whatever.”

“As you wish, papa.” Azazel turns back tow here he came from, no doubt off to find Lucifer and make sure that his father wouldn’t have a problem with being called such again, or with him giving Dean such affection as well.

Adam slips into step beside Dean without hesitating. “I heard you call both of them, figured I was next. No need to make you call out, when I understand well enough.”

Dean slings an arm around Adam’s neck. Another kid brother although this one he didn’t meet until long after the normal ages for having a kid brother. “I’m going to take the mark, and I’ll help patch up hell first.”

Adam nods, then he blinks for a long moment. “You never asked me why I stood behind you and not Lucifer.”

“Do you want to explain now?”

“No matter what happens, you’re going to be the one who has to live with whatever the mark makes you do. No matter which path we take, you have to carry this burden. Lucifer did this once. Now, you have to. That means it is your decision what we end up doing at any point, so if you wish to switch sides, that is your choice, but if you ever change your mind. If hurting Lucifer will hurt you too much, then say the word, and I will force him to sit down and let you do what you need to do.”

Dean leans over and kisses the top of Adam’s head. “Thank you for being willing to stand up for me. Also, please pray that I can convince the three archangels that this is going to be better in the long run.”

Adam offers him a smile before disappearing, which tells Dean that while Adam will stand behind whatever decision Dean makes, he’s not going to stand in front of Michael, Gabriel, and Rafael to do that. 

Dean knocks on the door that enters into all three of the other archangels’ bedrooms. They connected them shortly after the wedding, wanting to be closer together like they were before the fall of heaven. Honestly, he’s surprised that Lucifer doesn’t spend more time with them in here, but apparently Dean comes first. That makes him feel warm and fuzzy. 

Gabriel opens the door to stare at Dean. “I’m guessing we need to talk.”

Dean nods and steps into the room. He drops all pretense of being here for a different reason as he turns to stare at Gabriel. “I need us to make a different choice. I need your support.”

Michael steps into Gabriel’s portion of the room and pushes a mug of coffee across the table towards Dean. “This is a bad idea. Switching to trying to build up some defenses won’t work. Amara will still be angry when we get there, and she has every right to smite us where we stand, and I’d rather just let her make the choices.”

Rafael slips in behind Michael and stares at Dean. “You don’t think Michael’s right, do you?”

“No. I don’t think that Lucifer’s correct either. I think that your Aunt Amara loves you all unconditionally. I think that’s why she didn’t put up a fight, because the only way to start that fight is to be willing to kill you kids, and she swore to herself, she wouldn’t let God force her into hurting her children, no matter the cost to her. I think her anger is reserved for the right person, for God. I think that when we go there her arms are going to circle you all and remind you that you still have family.”

Rafael stares at him. “There are too many futures left for us to check. Back when Lucifer checked the future, there were two options, the one where you became our enemy, and the one where you became something more than our enemy. I don’t even remember what level marriage was on, but now that you’ve been married, every single universe option seems to be branching at every single decision, as if the fates haven’t figured out what either of you will do when it comes to being with each other.”

Dean thinks back to the day that he’d met Lucifer, to the day that he learned in another timeline, he turns out to be more bitter than a set of archangels. Let alone the fact that he took down more than a couple of the archangels himself. “Pretty sure the only person who can see it clear enough to tell us where we’re heading would be your aunt, but I won’t force Lucifer to meet with her. Because out of all of you, she has the most reason to hate him.”

“But you don’t believe she does?” Gabriel asks.

“If she hated you, you’d know even through the shield of darkness and the cage around her. She wouldn’t let you forget. You wouldn’t be fearful with tiny amounts of hope. You’d be terrified, cowering behind God, begging Him to save you from her wrath.”

Michael clasps his shoulder, guiding Dean’s eyes up into his. “You could end up suffering either way. You should be the only decision that matters, but you aren’t even thinking of yourself.”

Dean laughs because he can’t remember the last time that anyone’s even bothered to check in to see where he’s at. He was taught at a young age that his happiness is nothing compared to others, and he took that to heart. He’ll always take that to heart, he’ll put anyone else that he cares about in front of him. “I’m pretty sure I have the darkness protecting me, and even if I don’t, I’ve got a family to support me when I falter. I’ve got family to catch me when I inevitably fall down with the mark.”

“I’ll try my hardest to make sure that when you fall, you don’t hit the ground,” Gabriel swears. 

Dean stands up still ignoring the cup of coffee in front of him. He hugs all of the angels, before leaving the room to go find Ellen. He could use her arms around him, telling him that all of this is going to end alright. That he won’t destroy his husband trying to make sure that none of the pain goes into him the ways he won’t enjoy, but he can’t break him mentally either. 

His feet carry him across the dimensions, any demons he encounters lunges out of his way. Anything that has their human king about ready to curl up into a ball in tears, is something that all of the rest of them wish to avoid.

Ellen’s door is open and she’s waiting with open arms.

Dean tucks himself into her embrace and lets her lock the door and take them both inside. He doesn’t sob, but he lets the tears stream down his face. This is too much, he can’t handle the whole world on his own, and even with his belief in Amara and in his husband, he’s not sure how to survive this.

Ellen starts gently rubbing his scalp, scraping his hair as she considers what to say. “I can’t promise you that this is going to be okay, because I have a feeling that when it comes to trying to take down God, none of this is going to be okay. But, you’re making the right choice.”

“How can agreeing to hurt one of the people I love most in this world be the right choice?”

Ellen holds him closer to her as she wishes that in one of these universes her boys get to be happy without having to make the choice for the greater good that makes them suffer a bit more each day. “Because he trusts you, and he doesn’t trust the other option. At least this way, you’ll be the one holding him the whole time. He can never claim you broke that trust.”

Dean huffs out a laugh. He doesn’t want to consider the other possibility, but he needs Ellen to tell him that he’s right. “The mark could make it to where I’m willing to break that trust in order to feel better. It wants to break things; it wants to destroy them. It wants to return them to the darkness, the only person who can fight it back is Amara. Ellen, what if I break him trying to save him? What if I lose my husband trying to make sure that he gets to have a life above the one that his father wants from him.”

Ellen shakes her head. “Because if the choice ever comes to begging Amara to be released and screwing the possible consequences and hurting Lucifer in ways he’s not willing to be hurt, you’ll choose gambling your life on Amara. That’s what you do Dean Winchester. Not to mention, I have more faith in your ability to control yourself than you do.”

Dean shakes in her arms for a long moment. “Can I stay for a while longer?”

“Of course. I’m here for all of my boys, no matter what. Here for that daughter of mine too. I’ll hold the fates at bay for you for just a little while longer.”

Dean closes his eyes and soaks in the comfort of his mother. His real mother, not the woman who was willing to trade her own son for a chance at a better life with her husband. That woman has no claim on him, that woman may have been his mom once, but she doesn’t hold a place in his heart anymore. She broke that herself.


	35. The Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens once they find Cain and everything is about to happen? Well arguments in which Dean lays down the law about the fact that one of them is carrying the mark and that person is him.

Azazel found Cain in a matter of days. Technically, Crowley had been given the task of finding him, but all of the demons just started sharing tasks once they all agreed to be family, because sometimes their kings didn’t know which tasks were more sorted to which one of them. The man turned demon doesn’t really hide. He doesn’t broadcast his existence, but he doesn’t hide the mark from those around him, and so it isn’t too hard for most people to be able to find him if they’re looking. Although, Azazel admits to himself that he’s not to surprised that Cain hadn’t hidden himself better, because no one was ever really going to be looking.

He slips back into hell to go tell Dean and Lucifer that he found Cain, and that they’d need a plan before they actually invaded his home to demand that he give up the mark to Dean. He slips in between demons that are gathered for court. Small matters only because neither Dean or Satan were willing to try to reform the system before Dean had some powers, although all of the demons knew that change was coming.

Many of them were excited even from what he heard. No one really enjoys the stagnant torture that they’ve been using for centuries. No one likes being hidden from the light, being treated like the monsters that killed for no reason. None of the demons here killed without reason, they always had some reason, even if they weren’t perfect reasons, they were reasons. 

Azazel makes his way to stand next to Adam off to the side, knowing that he shouldn’t push his luck and bring this up in full view of the court. No matter how funny that might be to try to see Dean and Satan try to calm the people when they learn that their kings were going to put themselves in danger to try to change the system. 

Gabriel slinks over and wraps an arm around both their necks. He starts leading them both away out of the court, shooting Crowley a glance that told him to stay and make sure that the kings weren’t going to get into any trouble. He leads them over to the room that has enough wards that not even god could hear them inside. 

Almost everyone was already there from the family. Including Sam, sitting like this was normal and that he was ready to accept the decisions of what comes next. Azazel chokes on laughter as he realizes that Sam thinks that this would probably be better for his brother in the long run. The distance between them grows more each time Sam doesn’t realize just how much pain every decision will make Dean feel.

Sam looks up to smile at the demons. He follows the lead of the others and has elected to afford them some amount of trust until they prove that they are unworthy of it. He’s sure that will happen at some point even with the one that his brother loves, because it is the nature of demons, but he’ll let things try to be happy for as long as they can. “I’m glad that you guys have come around to protecting hell first,” he offers.

Adam’s eyes snap up first before his brow furrows. “I haven’t come around to anything. I have told Dean as many times as he needs to hear it, that the consequences of these actions will be on his hands, and whatever path he needs to take so that he can sleep afterwards will be the one I march down.”

“King Dean deserves more than to be the harness for a goddess that he doesn’t wish to see trapped, but unfortunately that is the only choice left to us that would not destroy my other king, so I will agree with this plan, until such a time as this will destroy King Dean, then I will join Adam in making sure that he is safe,” Azazel states picking at his nails. 

Sam blinks at the hostility from the demons. He knew the decision was controversial, but still they had to admit that this would give them the best chance at withstanding the might of God. “But surely you don’t think that we can take on God right now?”

Azazel snorts as Gabriel kneels over. Laughter taking them both. They forget how goal-oriented humans truly are. 

“Sammy, Sammy. No, we can’t take on God right now, but we can’t do that even once Dean has the mark. We can make his plans a bit more irrelevant once Dean has the mark, but we can’t take him down just because Dean has a bit more power. All the archangels, all the demons, every single living thing standing up to God wouldn’t stop him. The only thing that can stop God is Aunt Amara,” Gabriel explains. 

“Indeed, however, we will have a place for her to fall back to when she takes on God, so that it isn’t just Aunt Amara versus God’s world and armies,” Lucifer points out as him and Dean enter the room and seal the doors shut. 

Crowley appears inside the room with Michael who was the only one of the family not in the room. His eyes roll as he feels the tension building in the room. He should have seen this coming, once they had to plan, they were going to revert into the old arguments that made no sense. 

Dean shakes his head and snaps his fingers, causing everyone to turn to him. “New rules, because otherwise I’m going to ask for someone to be smited today, and we’re family so we shouldn’t smite each other. One, we’re not going to go straight to Amara, which means we will attempt to make God just a bit more nervous while we deal with all the rest. That’s not up for debate.” 

Dean pauses and waits for everyone to nod. He may be a new king, but today he was going to force them to understand his points and not argue with the one person who will have control in this situation. “As for when we’re going to go to Amara, that’s not up for discussion. That will not be a part of these plans, even as we discuss what we’re going to do once I have the mark. The only person here who gets to choose when he’s going to Amara, is the only person who can get there without dying, me.”

Lucifer raises an eyebrow but doesn’t argue the point. His husband had promised him in private that he wouldn’t be surprised when it came to when Dean was going to go to talk to Aunt Amara, but since he’s the one who will have to talk first, and he’s the one with the mark begging to let her go free, he gets to decide. He’d already agreed to that much, although the fact that Dean wasn’t going to afford any of the rest of the family the same respect was surprising. 

In fact the only person in the room who didn’t look surprised as hell at what was going on was Ellen. Ellen remains sitting in a perfectly comfortable position while nodding at Dean. She’s ready to have to pull some of the more upset humans down to level and explain in short simple words why Dean was in charge of this.

Michael turns to look at Lucifer and realizes that he’s not putting up any fight at all and decides that perhaps the best response would be to let Dean choose his path this time. “Can I ask for you to let us know before you do it, even if we aren’t allowed to try to talk you out of it?”

Dean nods. “Of course. I made that deal for Lucifer, I’ll make that deal for any of you, just as long as you realize that if I’m willing to tell you when I’m going to Amara, you’ll give me zero push back.”

Bobby rubs his temple for a long moment before looking back up. “Why’s that boy? Why are we being this stubborn about something so simple?”

“Because I have to live with my actions, you don’t. You’ll get to wave your hands and say that it was a curse that made me hurt people I love. I have to live with the actual hurting people part, and when that gets to be too much. When I cross a line, I’ll go to Amara and beg for forgiveness for every single person in our family.”

Amara laughs in her little block of nothing chained by the mark. Dean Winchester still holds fear that he’ll cross a line. Her magic will flow through him, and he’s just close enough to her, that he’ll never struggle. His little mother figure was correct, he’s stronger than he believes.

Sam stands up and marches up to Dean, ignoring both Gabriel and Ellen reaching for him. “You can’t just get yourself killed to make yourself feel better. Amara can kill you without thinking.”  
“So can God, and I’m doing everything in my power to piss him off. You don’t have to trust her, you just have to accept that I do.”

Ellen tugs on Sam’s arm until he falls back onto the couch into her arms and shoots Dean a glare. “Your brother is not going to get himself killed. That’s why we’ve got to plan this, everything but when he goes to Amara, we’re going to have a plan for. Knowing my boy, he already has speeches for the apology speeches for each of you.”

Dean smiles over at Ellen. “You know me so well. I do have a plan for what to say to her. I don’t know her response. I can’t know her response, but I know what I will say, what I will argue, what I will have faith in.”

“And that will be enough,” Gabriel whispers. 

Rafael stares at his brother then searchers for the thing that caused him to say that, then he feels the gentle pressure of her presence around them. “Oh.”

“Explain for the tiny humans what’s happening,” Jo demands.

Dean smiles over at Jo. “They’re realizing that she never left them. She’s kept her eyes on them. She can’t do much trapped as she is, but she can watch. She can give them silent support, and she always has.”

Jo pauses to stare at the angels then turns back to Dean. “So we know where crazy first murderer is with the mark, what all do we need in order to turn you into the bearer of the mark?”

“The blade,” Lucifer answers. 

Bobby huffs out a laugh as the others all turn to stare at Lucifer. He can’t believe that sometimes these angels forget that the supposedly simple answers they know on reflex aren’t things that humans know about. “Explain.”

Rafael’s eyes open as he glances over to Bobby. “Weird like blade that looks like it wouldn’t do much damage, but the thing can kill just about any creature including archangels and princes of hell, which are theoretically the strongest things in existence other than God and his sister. Although I’m sure based on experience the Winchester’s will find something stronger than God to battle at some point.”

Sam freezes in place. “I’m sorry, are you claiming that we seem to attract unkillable things that need to be killed?”

“Of course not,” Gabriel chimes in. “We’re claiming that you go searching for bad guys like that. It’s one of the many reasons, I would prefer Dean to be juiced up on some magic before we let him loose on court, he’ll find a being older than time that happens to want him dead in under a week.”

Dean turns to meet Gabriel’s eyes. “I’ll bet bragging rights on that I’ll have it done in two days.”

Michael starts laughing as he listens to the ridiculousness of his family members. “The blade got tossed into the ocean by Cain a while ago. He’s trying to hold back the urges of the mark by isolating himself from the public and tossing away a portion of his power. He hasn’t learned yet that all that will do is make the final battle even more difficult.”

“Do we know which ocean? Because I’m willing to go deep sea portaling until I find the thing, but it would be so much easier if I had a more precise location than the ocean,” Crowley drawls. 

Azazel shakes his head and teleports out. The magic that surrounds Cain, surrounds the blade and after tracking down one. He’ll be able to track down the other without too much problem. He wishes that they could ask the angel for help too. He seems much better at deflecting tensions and pointing out the correct paths than the archangels do, but none of the others know him very well in this universe. 

His suit dampens in the water, but he finds the blade without too much trouble. He teleports right back into their warded room with water dripping from him and drops the blade. The magic wasn’t made for regular demons to hold and doing so caused him some discomfort. “Solved part one.”

Dean grins over at Azazel while turning back to the others. “So next steps our confrontation, I think less will be more in this situation. We take one human other than me, one angel, and one demon.”

“Angel will have to be Lucifer, he won’t let you do this alone no matter how much the rest of us plead with him to try not to have that much protective energy around you,” Michael points out.

“The other human should be Sam, just in case Cain has heard of the Winchesters. I don’t know whether he has or not, but on the off chance he knows portions of the plan that God made, I don’t want to throw him off too much,” Lucifer explains. 

Sam turns to glance around the demons. “That leaves us needing a demon, it probably shouldn’t be Azazel, since he’s recently touched the blade and has been stalking our would be human captive.”

Crowley turns towards Lucifer. He’d gotten the full rundown on every event in the other universe. The one that was meant to be before stubborn archangels had interfered. “I went with them the first time, correct?”

Lucifer nods.

“Then, I suggest we kill two birds with one stone. We try to convince God that through some means of fate manipulation, he’s actually redirected us to the correct path. That Dean will take the mark, panic, break the bond between the two of you in fear, and eventually end up a demon under me.”

“You want to trick God.” Bobby nods his head for a moment. “You want to trick God, and we’re all going to go along with it.” His arms start vibrating. “No, wait, we’ve all already agreed to try to take down God, so now we’re attempting to ensure that we have enough time to come up with a plan for God, since none of us have the brute strength to take down a god.”

Crowley pauses. “Well, technically none of us currently living, but Jack.”

Lucifer interrupts immediately with a vehement, “no,” being shouted across the room. He takes a couple of deep breaths to calm himself. “We are not bringing an archangel child into this world to be a pawn in our games. It’s bad enough that he was in the other universe. I don’t want that on my soul twice.”

Crowley shrugs. “You wouldn’t have to be the father. We have three other archangels right here.”

Gabriel shakes his head automatically. “No, no, and did I mention no. I’d be a terrible father. Might even manage to be worse than dear old dad, which would take no small amount of effort. I am not father material.”

Rafael looks similarly squeamish. “I wouldn’t say that I couldn’t raise a child, but I would prefer if we choose to do that option whether we’d consider letting all of us raise the child. Because honestly, I have a gut feeling the humans would be much better teachers for basic morals, the demons better at basic power growth, and the angels as role models for what power looks like,” he suggests.

Michael shakes his head, just a simple negative. He doesn’t really want to explain his reasoning to the room at large, but he’s confident that his brother’s already know of his hesitations, and that Dean Winchester will understand.

Dean nods immediately. He understands all of the hesitation, although he’ll admit that having the Nephilim may be helpful, that wasn’t a good reason to have a child. All things considered, it’s a shitty reason to have a child. “We shouldn’t pursue that path until one of them is actually ready to become a parent and decides willing that a child would be something that they want. This shouldn’t be something we use as a pawn or a tool.”

Sam glares at Dean. “That’s because you think Amara will actually help us. You’re placing all your chips in one basket.”

Dean blinks at the hostility in Sam’s face before remembering that of all of them Sam has the least reason to trust any of this. He was one of the main players that they were working for before Lucifer had a change of heart. He was probably expecting betrayal at every turn. “Yes. That and I don’t want a child to grow up like us. Players in someone else’s game that we know nothing about. That’s a terrible life for a child, and I don’t want to destroy my soul to win. I’d prefer to both win and be moral.”

Sam lowers his eyes after a second. He shouldn’t be so angry, but he can’t help but feel as if all of this was going to backfire on them. Love wasn’t always enough, and strength wasn’t something they could grow when the concept that they are trying to reach is a level to beat God himself.

Gabriel reaches out and grips Sam’s shoulders. He understands why the man is afraid. He’d be scared too, if all he knew of this world was that which Sam Winchester lived. “Don’t worry, Sam. We’ll find a way out of this even if it seems impossible sometimes. We’ll come up with some plan.”

Lucifer nods. “But first we need to get Dean that mark and as Crowley suggested buy us some time. We do not need God finding us before we have at least partial plans and reforms underway. We need to make it where his only options will be to kill everything that he’s built in this world and letting us continue. That way he’ll be at the same level we are, extremes.”

Ellen claps her hands. “Sounds good. Sam, Dean both of you will appear very hesitant to ask for the mark, make it sound like you absolutely will bot win if you do not have that mark. Make up an enemy if you have to. Lucifer, stay out of the house, put up a glamour, make sure that God has no reason to suspect that you are there or ever were. That way you’ll be perfect backup and you’ll still be giving the illusion that God has accidently nudged them on the right track. Crowley, make sure it looks like you’ll be having some of the control in this pile of mess. Maybe even convince God that you overthrew Lucifer once Dean realized that he’s a monster.”

Lucifer’s eyes flutter closed as those words filter in. He hates the fact that he’ll still be a monster after everything he’s done. He’ll never be anything more than a monster to some people. That hurts, even now, even from family, or especially from family. He can’t separate them easily anymore.

Ellen’s hand reaches out to cup Lucifer’s cheek to force him to both open his eyes and look at her. “You are not a monster, but God believes that you were always and will always be the monster that he must fight back, so we’re going to use that against him. There are no monsters here, only a family.”

“Hell of a messed up family,” Michael drawls.

“Hell of a messed up family.” Dean reaches out and pulls Lucifer close to him and reaches to draw Sam close too. Maybe a family hug pile would be good before they go off to try to gain power and prestige. “But a family all the same.”

Ellen grabs Bobby’s hand and Crowley’s and leads them both into the hug, leaning her head on Dean’s back. Her presence releasing a portion of the tension building up in him. So she drags the others closer.

Bobby grudgingly follows Ellen’s lead and wraps his arm around Dean and another around Sam. He grumbles at the affection. “Idjits. All of you.”

Crowley curls up against Bobby’s back, pressing up against and letting his hand curl down to reach Lucifer’s hand and link their fingers. He sighs as Bobby dispels some of the emotional tension in the room with the simple word. 

Michael steps closer, but stays on the edge, completely unsure of himself. He makes sure that Lucifer can feel his presence but comes no closer. 

Dean grumbles as Adam and Azazel bracket his front and let him relax into the embrace.

Rafael steps into the waiting arms of Azazel with his hands dangling behind to link up with Dean and Lucifer in a nice cuddle. He can tell that Michael hasn’t taken another step, but he doesn’t want to break the moment to call him out on being distant. He’ll wait until someone else calls him out or until he has to pull him in.

Gabriel steps forward to cuddle next to Sam with his eyes wide. He’s halfway expecting the human to reject him because he had defended Dean rather than side with him, so he’s surprised when Sammy wraps arms around him all the same. They need to talk about their emotions for one another, but that’s not for right now. That’s for when they get back with Dean in high amounts of power, and he can steal Sammy away for a private meeting without anyone trying to interrupt them. 

Lucifer can feel his brother just on the edge of their family pile, and the fact that he’s so far away bothers him, but Lucifer doesn’t know how to force him over. The family has pressed together before they split up to get Dean the mark.

Jo steps up behind Michael and grabs his hand. “Trust us, we’re family. We forgive you whatever crimes you think that you still suffer from. Trust me,” she whispers and guides him into the embrace. She drops down to be in Azazel’s arms, because he always runs warm, and she feels cold. 

Michael follows her and almost gasps, when he feels one of Dean’s hands drop to his shoulder to hold him. Then, Adam’s arm slips around his waist, in silent support. 

Dean closes his eyes to think of the correct words to speak, because everyone in this room is family, and come a couple hours later he might be the one breaking people. “Family means that we always try our best to protect each other, and that we forgive each other when we fail. Please don’t hold it against me, if I fail to hold back the urges of the mark.”

Michael’s brow furrows in confusion. The mark could easily urge him to hurt them, but the mark would be to blame not Dean. “You’ve forgiven me for mistakes I made that were clearly wrong in the long term, but that I didn’t understand were wrong. You’ve forgiven me for things that I chose to do even though they hurt people in this room. I think no matter what you do, I will manage to forgive you for anything that happens once you’re marked, that the mark forces you to do.”

Ellen snorts at Michael’s speech. That boy has enough guilt built into him that he needs a miracle to force him to consider any other perspectives at all, including that the people in this family have forgiven him, not just Dean. “Not to mention, I will lock you in a dark room before I allow you to bring harm to anyone in our family.”

“Think you can,” Dean asks.

Ellen glances around the pile of boys that she’s somehow ended up with several children, a couple grandchildren, and before this over the lines were likely to become more crossed somehow. “I think that I’ll have help. Quite a bit of it in fact. Don’t you worry, Dean Winchester. You hold the burden, I’ll make sure that you survive the ending.”


	36. The Mark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean gets the mark of Cain by lying his ass off to a man who remembers more than anyone else, but he's willing to play the game for now to see where this one ends. Maybe one day this loop will stop.

Dean doesn’t know if he’s ever been as stressed as he is in this moment. They’ve gotten to Earth, and he’s in front of Cain’s house. Crowley is standing in front of him, and Sammy is off to the side glowering which certainly helps the image they’re trying to portray. Dean’s got his story straight, and he’s ready to start launching into his speech, but he’s a little nervous that Lucifer will believe anything that he says in the next few minutes.

Crowley casts a glance over to Dean, covering as an order, but really, he’s checking to see if Dean wants to change the plan. He’d throw away everything if it meant that Dean would be able to live with what was happening more easily. The human went through enough in the last universe, they shouldn’t be allowed to mess with him in this one, but they had to.

Dean throws off his nerves and walks up to the door. He knocks with his knuckles running lines in his head. About how he needs help, about how desperate they are, and about why they’ve come all this way. 

Cain opens the door with a glare on his face. “You never manage to leave me alone. Not in a single universe that you exist in, do I manage to get away from having to deal with you. Another part of this curse, I can’t die without someone taking the mark and carving off my head, and I have to live with the knowledge of every universe that you’ve tried. Do you think this one will be different?”

Dean’s eyes fill with tears. It’s not hard to fake sympathy for the man in front of him when he knows full well how difficult staring at the future can be. “I don’t have a choice in this one. I have to get help, and you’re the only one who can help me.”

Cain sighs and opens the door to let all of them in. “You always have some situation that can’t be solved in any other fashion. Without fail, you’re either the dumbest human in existence or the most stubborn.”

Crowley turns to observe the house with watchful eyes. “I doubt you’ve seen quite anything like the mess the boys have gotten themselves into this time. Go ahead, Dean, tell Cain why we have to beg the mark from him with the blade as we’re running for our lives.”

Dean swallows hard against the natural urge to throw Crowley up against a wall for even insinuating that he screwed up in this timeline. As if they hadn’t made a family, as if they didn’t have an actual chance to beat God down from his ivory throne, but that’s part of the plan. They’ve got to make sure that God believes that they’ve fallen from the universe that they’ve placed themselves on.  
Cain turns back to Dean and sits down on the couch. “Tell me the story, and I’ll let you have the mark. Maybe in this one you avoid killing Sam. Maybe in this one you don’t make it out of the first couple days. I never really know what will happen once you take the mark until you inevitably come to kill me.”

Dean nods. “I thought that if I married the devil, I could prevent the apocalypse. I thought I could fight fate, fight the patterns of every universe. I suppose in some twisted sense I managed that. I kept the apocalypse from ever happening in this timeline, but now I’ve bonded my soul to Lucifer, and he’s out to make everyone I’ve ever loved suffer.”

Cain makes a low sympathetic noise. “I’ve been on that side of his ire. It’s a rough situation to be in, make no mistake. I feel for you.”

“We have to kill him. We can’t trap him because my soul is bound to his, as long as I’m free, he’ll be partially free. We can’t let him stay alive or he’ll kill everyone. Crowley’s managed to keep hell on our side for right now, but the tides can turn in a moment. We need extra help and quickly.”

Cain nods. “This might be the best story yet. I don’t think I’ve heard of one of the stories where you two ended up married. That’s a new ball game.”

Sam pops his head up and glares at Dean. “Yes, D for effort and all that. But now we’re in a load of trouble and have no way out of the hole that we’ve dug ourselves into.”

Cain chuckles under his breath. “Bitter little boy, almost always bitter, and almost never offers to take the burden for his older brother. Not that Dean would ever let you, but sometimes you offer, that always makes me smile. Reminds me of Abel.”

Sam moves backwards as he hears the words. He knows that all of this is a lie, and they’re playing a game, but still those words cause some amount of fear. He can’t let this universe be one of the ones where he offers to help his brother. “I didn’t cause these problems, and I’m sure both me and my brother are better people than your brother ever was.”

“Aye, you’re not wrong there. Dean, I have two questions for you. I ask them every time, or at least I try.”

Dean blinks allowing his true emotions of tiredness and fear fill his face. He doesn’t need to fake those things, he wishes that he could just avoid these issues for the rest of eternity, but that’s not how the world works when you’re on the opposite side of the battlefield as God. “Ask.”

“Will you accept the consequences of holding the mark? The desire for blood, the pain of those you love.”

Dean nods. Words won’t make that oath any easier to speak, and they both know it. He’s held the mark before even if not in this world. The only person not in this room that could understand the true meaning of that oath, would be Lucifer, and he’s waiting to whisk his husband away once they finish this, so that Dean could hurt him. Take the edge off.

“When the time comes for my soul to pass, will you do the deed, will you hold the mark long enough to give me peace?”

Dean cracks a rare smile for the situation. “I promise I will make sure that the last face you see is mine. Although who knows maybe I’ll find a way out for this universe. Maybe I’ll right the universe.”

Cain laughs, true full bellied laughter, that causes him to kneel on the ground. An ounce of happiness taking him. He can’t remember the last time that someone was willing to flat out try a line like that on him. “And maybe God will give in and tell you how to save the world.”

Crowley snaps his fingers and the blade appears. “As much as I’m sure I love the terrible drama between the two of you in all of these universes, I need to hurry this along, before Lucifer, you know the archangel we have to kill, finds us all and sets us on fire for eternity.”

Cain holds out his arm and motions for Dean to stretch out his. He takes the first blade from Crowley and starts carving the ever-familiar mark into Dean’s skin. As he takes in the slight grimace from Dean, he smiles. “I think this might be the earliest you’ve ever came to me to get the mark.”

Dean lets out a muffled laugh from the statement holding back his pain at having something so dark carved into his skin. He can already feel the desire to cause pain to cloud the edges of his mind, but something else holds most of it back. He doesn’t fade into the desire. “Maybe I’ll survive this yet.”

Cain shakes his head with deep sorrow. “You always manage to survive, Dean Winchester, but survival is not the only thing to take into consideration. You will suffer with what you’re currently doing, and by the end survival won’t be what you look for anymore. You’ll look for an out, and you’ll never find one. You care too much.”

Dean stares at the man that he knew throughout too many timelines to count. He shouldn’t feel pity, yet he does. Maybe when they create a better system for hell, they can drag Cain back into hell to offer him redemption. “Sounds like I need to find a way to live with myself for all the suffering I put myself through.”

“I wish it was that simple,” Cain murmurers. 

Dean flips the blade in his hand and slips it into his belt loop. Both Crowley and Sam turn to stare at him, both of them had expected the urge to fall into the category of unsuitable the second that the blade touched his palm, but Dean can feel only the brief whispers of desire. He’ll still let Lucifer play games to release some of that tension, but he won’t be forced into hurting anyone. The mark’s owner won’t let him.

He tilts his eyes up to the sky, even knowing that it was irrelevant, but the naturalness of it soothes him. “Thank you, Aunt Amara. You do not need to protect me; I will come to you regardless once we’re ready. But I appreciate your efforts to keep me whole,” he prays.

Crowley grabs hold of Dean’s arm and Sam’s. His magic surrounds them as he plops them both into the panic room of hell with enough protections that even God would have a difficult time breaking in, and they had plans to create even more now that they could draw on the power of darkness to buff them. “Hey, everyone needs to get here now.”

Lucifer pops in staring at Dean’s face in complete shock. “What did you do?”

Dean snorts as the others pour into the room expecting some kind of complete failure of the plan, so he rolls his sleep up over the new carved marks. “I took the mark of Cain, but it looks like in this universe I have a guardian protecting me from some of the symptoms.”

“No one can limit the effects of the mark, God swore that,” Michael counters automatically. His belief in God may have shattered, but surely God never blatantly lied to all of them. That would mean that Lucifer could have asked their aunt to help him.

“Someone can, but the first time the mark was used, she had taken quite a beating.”

Lucifer closes his eyes, remembering the haunted look his aunt had given him as God had bound her powers to that mark and placed it on his skin. At the time he thought she was haunted by the idea of losing and being locked away like a misbehaving child. Now, he realized it was because she had spent so much energy making sure that none of her children were hurt that she couldn’t protect him from the effects of her magic.

His eyes snap open, and his knees are burning on the ground, and Ellen’s arms are holding him close.

“Sh. Sh. Sh, my baby. She’ll forgive you. She’ll always forgive you.”

Rafael glances around the room at the family that they created. “Maybe she shouldn’t. We hurt her, and still she protects us. We don’t deserve her forgiveness.”

Dean shakes his head and lays one hand on Lucifer’s shoulder and reaches for Rafael’s hand. “That’s the thing about family. When you reach out to mend bridges that you lit on fire, the other person usually reaches back. Forgiveness has to be earned, and her kids have suffered under her brother’s abuse for long enough that she’ll forgive the moment they ask.”

“You don’t know that; you just have faith. That’s not enough,” Michael snaps.

Dean shrugs, as he helps Lucifer stand up. “You’re right. That’s why I’m not leaving to go talk to her right now with the spell I need. Because make no mistake, Michael, I don’t need her forgiveness. I haven’t wronged her, and I’ve done a damn lot to make sure that she has a family to come home to.” 

Lucifer wraps his arms around Dean and pulls him out of the room before anymore drama can be pulled out of the room.


	37. The God and His sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> God and Amara have opinions on what has happened to this timeline.

God smiles as Sam and Dean leave hell on the back of one Crowley. He thinks that this Crowley demon gets way more credit than he deserves, but he always seems to serve a great role in pushing both Dean and Sam to meet up with Cain before the end, and given how badly he needs Dean to hold the mark, he can’t even claim to be upset with this turn of events. 

Honestly, he wasn’t sure which string that he manipulated could have led them back to this path, unless of course he didn’t manipulate the strings at all, and this path was always going to set them down the right path. That’s more likely, he had thought of plenty of different pathways at the beginning of the human pathway. 

He couldn’t believe that Dean ever agreed to marry Lucifer though. He was sure that Dean’s soul had such a large righteous streak that you could feel it in every dimension. Perhaps, he gave Dean too much. Then, he had seen Lucifer hurt once and took on the burden of trying to save him.

Poor Dean Winchester. He was meant to think that Castiel is the broken one, the one that he can save from the fate of angels and demons. That angel would make a terrible poker player, but Castiel is so easily molded with the way he was made. The angel even went to that sham of a wedding to stand on the sidelines until a demon took pity on him.

That had made him laugh. The demon that killed Mary Winchester dancing with the personal angel of the Winchesters. The irony of all of this universe was almost poetic. Like in most of the different universes, he had to fight his way up to get back into the Winchesters’ good graces after the apocalypse, but this time he might not have to work up to that.

He’ll probably have to counter some bullshit that Lucifer told them, but given his other archangels had stayed in hell, there’s a chance they already know about those lies. Maybe that’s the cause of why Dean and the others found out that Lucifer can’t be trusted and went to get the mark to kill him. 

Michael would still be a brilliant solider. Instead of dying in the first apocalypse, he can die fighting in the battle against the nothing, long before he lets Dean release Amara. No, Amara won’t turn to him if even one of his kids survives in the general plane of existence. That means that the first person that he’ll turn to will be Michael to battle the impossible creations he’s made. 

Then, there’s Gabriel. In the original plan, Lucifer kills Gabriel in a fit of rage. That can’t quite happen in this world. Unfortunate truly, because that’s one of his go to excuses for when trying to pinpoint the amount of evil in him. However, perhaps it would be even more poetic to get Amara firmly on his side, rather than for some reason loving Dean Winchester, he should make sure that when the mark fully destroys his brain, to put Gabriel in his path and let the blood spill.

Lucifer will be dead soon enough without his intervention. Whoever Dean Winchester decides will die while he holds the mark always dies. Sometimes its Abandon, sometimes its Azazel, once it was Metatron. When Dean Winchester chooses someone to die, they die in the most gruesome way imaginable. Honestly, Lucifer almost deserves some pity from him for having to deal with the full wrath of Dean Winchester, but he brought it on himself with that wedding. Love is laughable. As if Lucifer was capable of love. 

Rafael is the loose cannon. Most of the time he ends up a pawn until his eventual demise, but this Rafael would see that coming after the deaths of all three of his brothers, so perhaps he needs to intervene early for Rafael. How could he kill Rafael though? Rafael holds just enough intelligence to make it difficult, and just enough soul to not blindly follow orders. Maybe he could offer a deal that ends with Rafael’s demise, but also seems like the Winchesters need to beg him to take it anyway.

Ooh, he could give them a pretty dilemma with the actual princes of hell. Corrupting Abandon won’t be hard, all he has to do is free her from Oz. Azazel will fall in line the second that Lucifer is in danger. The only high point that lousy demon has is that he’s unwavering loyal to the king of hell. Ramiel is in hell but hasn’t made any moves towards interacting with Lucifer or Dean in this timeline. Honestly it annoys God, when Ramiel just sits on the sidelines, so convincing him to jump ship should make him happy. Dagon abandoned ship so soon after being made, but she’ll fight to be heard just a little louder. The hardest one would be Asmodeus because he never seems to want to be involved in anything. He’ll take the mantle of king of hell when its thrust upon him, but he’ll never seek it out.

Yes, he has a plan to ensure that the universe rights itself even in this weird alternate world where somehow Lucifer grew a backbone. Of all the things he saw coming, this one was such a tiny blip, that he’s surprised that they ended up on it.

While, God plots his pretty little plan to destroy the Winchesters and the archangels, and convince Amara that he will be the only thing left at the end of the world, Amara laughs in her cage. She’s one step closer to freedom and this time she doesn’t have to watch as family members suffer from her magic. 

Oh, her family has grown by many numbers. She wouldn’t have thought it was possible given how splintered for her to care about anyone other than them. But here they are. A perfect little family, well not so perfect yet, but that’ll be her job to fix when she comes home. She’ll save them.

Lucifer with his guilt. So much guilt. He wanted to make his father proud, because he never got to see the patient man that his other brother’s saw. He thought that it was just a matter of proving himself. He was to young to see that this was because his father had already written him off as an evil being to be used as a pawn in later games. Amara tried to give him enough love, but he still craved that approval from dad. It hurt her to end up as far as it did, but she can’t blame the child. 

Michael and his loyalty. God had made sure to build that into his soul so that no matter what happens in any universe, Michael would be loyal to him. Little did God realize that others could transfer that loyalty. Michael would have stayed if God had stayed, but God left him alone. Michael alone in his mind was a bad mix. He doesn’t understand decisions, because God never let him make any as a child. He was locked away from the light. Locked away from thought. Amara tried to grow that, but he didn’t understand. That’s alright, she can’t blame children for not knowing more than they were taught, and she can’t teach him how anymore, but that’s okay. He won’t have to try to learn on his own. 

Rafael and his intelligence. But his knowledge stems from God. He believed that all the information given by God was impartial because why would God include bias. He’s above emotion, he’s above controversy. That blind faith of Rafael’s was blinding. He’s starting to shed that faith, and part of her wants to wrap him up and swear that it’ll be alright. 

Gabriel was just so young. He barely had any time to grow as anything. He seemed to be taking the pathway as a trickster, and she’d be so proud of him for choosing something so decisive. He deserves the happiness of that type of world, but she knows that he didn’t get to hold onto that world. He felt the pain of losing a brother, and he couldn’t stay. He’ll never be able to stay without the full family. The pain just eats at him, because he doesn’t know why he feels something is missing. He doesn’t realize that it’s her. It’s the one who held him while he cried. 

Then comes her new extended family. The one that slowly got created over the course of this universe. The universe where they break the pattern. The one where they truly end up winning, not continuing the cycle of pain for all of humanity. 

Dean Winchester, the boy who against all odds reunited a broken family. He has such love in his heart for those broken by the decisions made by others. He’ll wrap her angels up in his arms, and he’ll hold them as they cry. He’ll convince Lucifer that she’ll forgive him, convince Michael that he can think for himself and it won’t end in misery, convince Gabriel that hope is worth focusing on, and convince Rafael that it’ll be alright to break the mold and allow feelings. He’ll patch together the broken people, and then he’ll come to her, and he’ll offer her a life. She’ll accept the offer as she always has, but for once she won’t have to trick him into releasing her. 

Sam Winchester, she admits doesn’t make her thrilled. He loves deeply, but he also judges all those who exist within his circle. His blatant belief that there are right actions and wrong actions bothers her. But none of the members of the family want to start that argument. He’ll figure it out for himself after a little while, once Gabriel puts his foot down. They flirt and dance around each other like the beginning of lovers, but Gabriel will have to try to fix the anger bubbling under the surface before that can ever be healthy. 

Bobby Singer amuses her. He’s a gruff old soul who likes to pretend that nothing and no one influences him, but he always seems to love people who are connected to his boys. He’ll even love all of her angels for the good it does them. 

Ellen Harvelle deserves her undying attention and glory. When she gets back to the real world where she can help people, where she can stop some of Gods crimes against all living things, she’ll ask Ellen what her greatest wish is and then she’ll make it happen. Nothing in heaven or hell could stop her. That woman had no reason to love Dean and Sam, other than that they were orphans and needed a mother. That was enough for her to embrace them as her own. Then, Dean told her that he was marrying Lucifer. So maybe they could stretch that love, but no Ellen Harvelle chose to love each and every one of her angels as her own, because they didn’t have a family to do it for them. She’ll die for Ellen Harvelle, and if her brother ever touches her, he better believe that will actually end with him facing down an army because she is loved. She will always be loved. 

Jo Harvelle is a weird combination. She has Ellen’s love because she is the only true child of Ellen, but still she remains on the outside of the family unit. She loves the Winchesters, and she tolerates Bobby’s presence. She made sure that the other angels got into the circle of the family, but she did it for reasons that Amara can’t put her finger on. It’s almost like Jo has her mother’s tendency to find people and bring them into the family, but she won’t let herself grow to close for when they leave. Amara will have to remind her that this time they have the protection of a goddess to keep them from suffering the consequences of destroying the natural order. 

Crowley somehow always ends up on the conquering side. In the universes where the Winchesters win against all odds against every single thing that exists, Crowley stands next to them. In the universes, where she’s forced to destroy the Winchesters and all that God has ever created, he’s next to her, telling her of the world and what changes would be most beneficial. In the ones where God wins, he’s there reminding God that a balance must be kept. When Lucifer wins, he’s little more than a puppet, but he’s there. Interesting that in this one he got pulled into the actual family, but she supposes that who will win the battle. So, she’ll give him the same love that he affords to hers in this universe. 

Adam reminds her of the forgotten humans. The ones that often fade in memories. People mourn them for a while and then move on. In most universes that is his fate. A temporary move to make to try to force the Winchesters into playing by the rules. But here they’ve dragged him into the family, and they won’t let him get dragged down any further than any of the others. He deserves a careful amount of love and comfort. He deserves to know that at least in this version of the universe, he’ll be treated as an equal to the ones that are important. 

Azazel is her son’s son, a grandson. He holds the full power of an archangel in demonic form. She doubts that God has considered them other than as pawns, but she knows that he loves Lucifer like a father, and he is loved in turn as a son. He has more claim for her love than most, so he’ll get an embrace when she first meets him. 

The other children of Lucifer do not currently stand in the family. They could reach out to their father, if they wish. Lucifer would embrace them and remind them of their place in his heart, and Dean would accept them as his own. But none of them are sure of where they stand, so they left long ago. Which means that Lucifer won’t reach out first, not with his children. They know where he is, they can come home. 

Amara hopes that his children do come home before God gets to them to try to corrupt them to the side of his fate. Lucifer shouldn’t have to live with his children’s death on his hands, and yet she knows that will be the universe that God pushes for. Still, she’s seen the inside of Dean Winchester’s mind, and she knows that he’ll take the brunt of that attack. He’ll kill them, so Lucifer doesn’t have to. He’ll take the anger and resentment, so that Lucifer and his brothers don’t have to admit that they should have seen that plan coming from God. 

Amara nods her head as she sits in to wait. Until Dean Winchester comes for her, she’ll remain a broken queen, but the day he comes. She’ll rip this universe to shreds for them, her little family perfect in her eyes. She’ll give them what they ask for and more. All he has to do is come to her, and he knows it.


	38. The Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel decides to force Sam to make a choice, because otherwise they're always going to be walking on eggshells, and also because Sam has trust issues.

Gabriel grabs Sam’s hand as Dean and Lucifer make their way out of the room. He’d been waiting for a moment where the whole family didn’t have to be on edge, and this seemed like perhaps the best chance that he was ever going to get. “Can we go talk somewhere privately?”

Sam shrugs and leads the way towards his room. Given the fact that all of the archangels ended up in a combination type style of rooms, he’s not surprised that he’s the one who needs to find them a place to speak privately. “Did you hear what Dean said?”

Gabriel nods. Not exactly what he wanted to start the conversation off with, but if Sam was actually willing to talk first, this might go much easier than what he expected. “Yeah. It was a great lie, and it should play into what God wants enough to make him believe that Lucifer sent us back on the correct path with his normal personality.”

Sam shakes his head. Then, he buries his head in hands. “Of all of the members of this family, the one most likely to cause a fraction is me, not Lucifer.”

“Not untrue. You’ve been hurt though, more so than Dean in this universe right now. You’ve got your problems, and we’re all willing to let you have your moments.”

Sam snorts as he lowers his hands slightly to make sure that Gabriel is aware that he’s receiving the death glare. “I should trust Lucifer. I was in his head, and we were built in the same fashion, but for some reason all of my instincts still scream that I should be on the opposite side of that battle. I should run for God and tell him everything. Then, I see Jo pulling Michael into a family hug, and I wonder why I’m the only one who still feels this way.”

Gabriel pauses. He could ask Sam to try to explain why he thinks he feels that way, but all that would likely get him is an angry human and no closer to understand how to patch up the holes that seem to be building in his family. 

Sam collapses into a sitting form on the bed barely containing tears. “You should hate me, Gabriel. You don’t have to be the one who tries to patch this up.”

“I don’t hate you, regardless of what the fates think I should do. Not to mention, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be. You don’t trust us, because you don’t see any reason why you should. You see us as all powerful, you see us as larger players on the field, so what stops us from throwing you humans away once we’re done with the war.”

“More or less.”

Gabriel nods. “Let me tell you some stories. Some of them come from this universe, some come from universe, and some come from a completely different time, but I think all of them hold purpose.”

Sam nods, then lays back on the bed to be comfortable.

After a moment, Gabriel leaps into the bed, not quite touching Sam, but close enough to leech comfort off of each other, if they need to.

_“Once upon a time, a long time ago, I was created. I was a tiny little thing, and the first person to hold me wasn’t my father, God himself, the creator of the universe. No, Aunt Amara caught me as I formed, so I wouldn’t hit the ground as my first memory. I’ve talked to the others about this many times, because as far as I’m aware, I’m the only one that she managed to catch. I’m the only one that had just enough warning that Aunt Amara could be there to make sure that God wouldn’t forget that we were something in between God and human. _

_ I don’t have many memories from before the creation of humanity. I was young. So very young. And I was so very confused on what my purpose could be. Michael already had his solider gig. He was so good at following orders to the grave. I swear I thought he’d fall out of heaven on command and never use his wings just because that wasn’t specified. _

_ Lucifer didn’t reject me though. He made sure that I learned some of the basics of the world. He taught me to prank my brothers, he held me through my nightmares. Out of all the memories I hold, I loved two people enough that I’d be willing to die for them. Aunt Amara and Lucifer. _

_ When that fight came, when we were ordered to fight Amara, many of them thought that I stood by God as I was supposed to. I let them believe that too. I never told any of them what actually happened. Aunt Amara came that night to my little home. _

_ She told me ‘I know your father has asked you to imprison me. I won’t try to stop you. I can’t stop your father, not without hurting you kids. So, I’m telling you now, Gabriel. Stand with your brothers and make sure none of them take an attack that I can’t make sure they survive from. Protect Lucifer, convince him to fight. God will kill all of you if you don’t. Leave the rest to me.’"_

Gabriel fights back his own tears as he lets out a huge sigh. “That’s what I remember from that fight. I threw myself towards my aunt forcing my hands to cause her pain, so that God thought we were all obedient little servants. Do you know why I told you this story?”

“So, I would understand that you’ve all sacrificed more than I could ever dream of.”

“No, so you realize that what we’re doing makes us just as human as you. I can die in this battle, just like you. I can fail in my steps just like you. At the end of the day, I could have made the wrong choice. Maybe I should have told her no, I’ll stand at your side as your son, because you’re the one who caught me when I fell. I told you this story, Sammy call me Sam Winchester, because you need ot know that what we’re doing will either save us all or doom us all. We won’t survive if we don’t win. We’ll all fade into darkness.”

Sam reaches out to pull Gabriel a little closer to him where he can at least have Gabriel’s head on his chest as they continue making sure that difficult conversations are heard. “You have more stories though, because we both know that while that helps, I’m still going to feel like something is wrong with the general picture.”

Gabriel sighs again and presses into Sam’s skin. “I have stories about everyone but you. Because in the other universes, and in this one, some of us have already made our call. The only one who hasn’t sworn down this road, is you.”

Sam pouts. “Why haven’t I?”

“Because all of us try to keep you from having to bond your soul to the rest of us losers, because we all know that the chance this ends in our death for the 1987th time is high, and we don’t really want you to suffer each time. We all have connections that span across death, especially after this one, Dean will never be able to fight on the opposite side to Lucifer again.”

“But not this time?”

“No, this time you get to make your choice, and you can choose to actually come with us, or you can choose to walk away. We’ll keep you safe, invite you to family functions, but you won’t have to trust us.” Gabriel pauses. “Choose whose story to hear next.”

“Dean’s,” Sam answers automatically.

_“Dean Winchester was made to be the righteous man, the one true vessel of the archangel Michael. That’s perhaps the best place to start a story like Dean’s. He was made by God to be the perfect fit for Michael, but Michael doesn’t know who he is. That’s a different story, but needless to say, Dean was made to fit an image. _

_ Dean’s story happens in our world, our universe. Dean Winchester met the devil one day in hell after weeks of being tortured. He would have done almost anything to keep the pain from coming back, instead he got a description of anther universe, the universe that we were heading down the same path as the one that one took, and neither of them wanted that universe to be the one that they went down again. _

_ They agreed to fight back the forces together, even though that meant they had to get married, to tie their souls together. That could have been where Dean left it. He could have chosen to avoid caring for Lucifer’s people, instead he learned how to love them. He could have chosen to ignore his friends from other universes and try to make a world of his own, instead he accepted Crowley as an old friend. He could have spurned Lucifer’s brothers when they deserved all the hatred that both Dean and Lucifer could summon, and he could have hurt Lucifer for a hundred different reasons. _

_ Instead, he chose to love the devil. He chose to love the one soul that in 1986 universes never got any love, because God didn’t want to, and his brothers never got an olive branch. He chose to let Lucifer in. Then, he saw the pain of losing his family, and he offered us a family, he offered Lucifer a family first, when he was worried about potentially not having anyone at a wedding. He offered me a family next, a simple gesture. A place to stay if I was willing to give up on the rest. I stayed, and Dean included me in every decision past that. Then came Rafael, who never considered the other options. Rafael, who he held as he sobbed and offered forgiveness that he had no reason to give. Last was Michael, who didn’t even know what direction he was facing. Dean offered him more than anyone else. He offered him a different path. He offered him a chance to get better. He offered Michael redemption, even though in many universes, Michael is the reason that Dean suffers and the marks on his soul still ring true.”_

“So, the point of my brother is that he’s forgiving?”

Gabriel can’t help but laugh. He forgets that in most universes Sam just laughs it off. That Sam chooses to focus on the logic of the world rather than the emotional. “Sam, your brother is a glue. Your brother gives all of us hope, in this universe and in most universes. We’d give up this loop if it wasn’t for your brother standing in them and saying we’ll try again. We’ll figure something out. We’ll try again. Even after we broke him trying to save the world in the last one. My story Sam was to remind you that we’re human too, Dean’s story is to remind you that the only one of us that remains in the end is Dean Winchester.”

Sam furrows his brow but nods. “Alright, give me another story. Let me see if I can understand.”

_“Crowley became a demon because he wanted a bigger dick. Honestly, out of all of us, he’s the craziest. He has no reason to be here time after time after time. He should leave, in one of the timelines where we restart at the beginning of everything, he should make a different choice because he knows. His soul knows what comes next._

_ But he chooses to be a demon. He chooses to walk down the path. He chooses to find Dean Winchester, offer a deal. And somehow, someway, he always ends up on top. Yet, he’s never happy. The only time that Crowley ever actually seems to be happy, is when him and Dean are on decent speaking terms. He loves Dean._

_ Not romantically, as if he could ever beat Lucifer for Dean’s affection, but more as if platonic love met soulmates. They come together, and they never leave. Crowley will hold Dean’s head up high when he falters. And Dean will remind him to keep going strong in the next life. _

_ Crowley works for Dean Winchester, until that will result in his death, then he’ll turn ships. Because his soul doesn’t trust easily, and if Dean is ever responsible for his death, he’ll break that tiny bond between them that gives him hope. So. Crowley is both a loyal and a turn-coat. And, Dean loves him back.”_

Sam reaches over to start rubbing a pattern into Gabriel’s arm. He can feel the tension from here as each story is told. Probably both because he’s betraying a sense of privacy and because he’s scared that Sam will walk away. He can’t walk away. This is his whole family, and he needs this family. So, he’ll have to find a way to join this clan.

Gabriel leans into the touch, being careful not to push to hard today. He might like Sam, he might even want a more romantic relationship, but today is about trying really hard to make sure that Sam has an educated amount of a decision to make.

Sam pulls him closer on instinct. “I want to hear your stories of all the rest of them on how all of you are connected in different ways, but I want you to know that with everything I am, that this universe, I’m with you and Dean. I just need some information to put the pieces in my head together on why none of you are ever panicked over the fact that you’re all close for each other.”

Gabriel nods, although he’s not sure whether Sam really knows whether that is the truth or not. The human seems determined to get through his problems, but he’s been that way in other universes before and sometimes that’s just not enough. “Crowley’s story is to point out that even with love sometimes the consequences of the paths we choose don’t always end up pretty. Sometimes we all end up burning together in a glorious amount of flames.”

Sam snorts. “There’s a saying that if love drags me to hell, then it’s a good thing that I like the smell of fire. I feel like perhaps his story models that way of thinking.”

Gabriel nods. “Yeah that sounds about right. I guess the next best person to mention is Adam, because Adam suffers.” He clears his throat.

_“Adam is the illegitimate child of John Winchester, and as such has similar properties in physical strength to you and Dean, which means that he’s able to hold onto the powers of an archangel with decomposing rather well. That makes him a target._

_ A target by Michael and a target by Lucifer. It all depends on which one of the two of you is being stubborn in a universe. Most of the time even in the ones where we all team up at random other points in time, the apocalypse happens. I believe as far as I am aware that this is the only universe where all of the family has been together. _

_ Adam gets tortured. Brutally. At least 75% of all of the lifetimes we’ve run to try to overcome the natural end of all of humanity. Trust me, his soul is broken, which is perhaps why it was so easy in this world for Lucifer to twist his mind just slightly to allow for him to become a demon. The main way that the princes of hell were made. _

_ Adam trusts still though. He remains hopeful, and he remains positive. And every time you and your brother show up to warn him, or the angels come to snatch him, or the damned demons kidnap him, he always trusts the person that asks him to. It doesn’t matter to him who does it as long as someone asks for that trust. The power is so heavy when it comes to him. _

_ Yet here he is, willing to love us all.”_

Sam pauses then moves his hands to prop his head up. “So, Adam still loves us even though we’ve all given him pain.”

Gabriel nods immediately and flips his whole body over so he can stare Sam in his eyes. “Just like I will forgive Lucifer for every evil thing he’s ever done, and I will forgive Michael for the crimes he’s committed against all of us. And all of us will forgive you for whatever small pains you’ve caused us with your hesitation.”

“Do you think Lucifer would even accept my apology?”

“Of course, he would. And if you were still clearly emotional like you are right now, he’d probably draw you into his arms and hold you for a while. All of us love physical contact to reassure us that someone cares.”

“Will you?”

Gabriel pauses, then shakes his head. “You have done nothing that you need my forgiveness for. I will try to save you from your own folly. I will try to build bridges where you and the others struggle to catch the rope. You haven’t hurt me.”

Sam reaches out and brushes some of the hair from Gabriel’s face. “I did that day when they were explaining how they fell in love. I could feel your anger,” he replies.

“You hurt my brother, so I was angry. You didn’t hurt me, which means I am not the one who can withhold or grant forgiveness. That is the way of the world.”

Sam nods. “Will you tell me his story next?”

“Lucifer.” Gabriel leans himself down on Sam where he can once more focus only on the story. This story could cause Sam to run from the room and down the hallway and out of hell entirely, or it could cause Sam to relax finally.

_“Lucifer has done many things, in many universes. He’s built empires and torn down worlds. He’s stood on God’s side, Amara’s side, and most importantly your side._

_ There’s a universe, where you really wanted to be left alone. You wanted to be able to live your life and not have to deal with any of the rest of our shit. Which we all agreed was valid. So, Dean and Lucifer managed to make sure that Azazel never killed Jess._

_ When Jess didn’t die, you went back to Harvard. You got a kickass law degree. You were a great lawyer. You’d defend the innocent constantly. Half the time you were making negative amounts of money because of how much pro bono work that you did. Well, Michael snatched Dean in that universe. Before he went to hell, because you never died to make him come to hell. _

_ And so the next portion of the world said that Lucifer had to go get you. He had to convince you that standing for the devil was your destiny, and that you would be the perfect vessel. Only Dean had managed to find a path where you didn’t get dragged into this at all, and we thought maybe we had a shot. None of us were working together really, but we all had the same goal. Make sure that humanity survived in the end._

_ Lucifer decided that perhaps what we had been doing wrong was ever making you anything but human. So we did the insane, we left you alone. That made God angry, he wanted the apocalypse. And he was not going to take no for an answer. He was going to torture you with deaths of every single thing you loved until Lucifer had no choice but to offer you sanctuary from the pain. _

_ Lucifer didn’t want that fate for you and the options were convince you willing or take away God’s leverage. Now God made sure that guards were near the people you loved so that it wouldn’t be easy for Lucifer to change that path, because god thought the leverage was your torture. That’s because he doesn’t think like archangels. _

_ Lucifer went to Michael that night. And begged Michael to kill him before he could hurt anymore humans. Before anyone else could die in his name. And of course, like the ultimate brother that Michael was, he did. So, Lucifer died so that you could live a happy life. That’s not where that universe ended, no, God won in the end and wiped out humanity once more to create something better. But…”_

Sam pushes off from the bed. “But the important part is that my brother in law, the angel that I keep avoiding, loved me enough even in a world where he had no real reason to, to die for me.”

Gabriel stands up and places his hands on either side of Sam bracketing him into place. “No, no Sam, don’t go down that road. That road has a lot of poison trails. Trust me, you don’t want to walk into that kettle of fish. He loves you now, and he’ll die for you now. The moral of the story is that you have people here who love you. You have people who are willing to die for you. And even if you don’t understand like the rest of us do deep in our souls, we’ll still be here fighting when you piece together your own shit.”

Sam licks his lips and drags his eyes up to meet Gabriel’s. “You love me?”

“Yes.”

Sam leans forward and presses a feather light kiss to Gabriel’s lips before pulling away. “We need to talk about the flirting and what we want from a relationship, but I can’t do that right now. I need to go see Lucifer, I need to say something, I haven’t quite found the words, but I’ll piece them together.”

Gabriel steps back. “I can be here when you get back, or I can wait for you to come to me. Whatever you want.”

Sam gulps. “I think after I go apologize to Lucifer, I’m going to go to Ellen and ask her for advice, then I’ll come find you.”


	39. The Fun Times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer and Dean have a nice scene with plenty of sex with Dean being in complete control of himself, which settled him really nicely.

Lucifer pulls Dean into their room far away from the others. He has no idea whether Dean is telling the truth when it comes to his ability to shy away from the desires of the mark, and he’ll be damned if his brothers know about the deal they’ve made. They could attempt to blame Dean and nothing could be further from the truth. 

Dean notices the frantic motions and realizes that his husband was just a few steps away from insanity. His new strength meant that this time when he wrapped his arms around Lucifer pinning him to his own chest that Lucifer couldn’t just buck him off whenever he wanted. “Breathe, then speak.”

“You can’t possibly believe she’ll forgive us all.”

“Most of us haven’t done anything to her in this family. Bobby, Ellen, Sam, Adam, Jo, and I never even knew she existed until you told us. I’d put money on the same being true for both Azazel and Crowley, so tell me who exactly needs forgiveness.”

Lucifer let out a rough sob and through his weight back towards Dean, trusting that Dean wouldn’t let him fall. “We locked her away. We sent her to a hole in the ground with no escape.”

“Yes, you did. But for immortals you were children. Your father told you that you had to, that she would hurt people and in your innocence, you took one person’s words for truth. She’ll forgive that. Do you know why?”

“No, because I could barely do it and I had you guiding me,” he rants.

Dean smiles from behind Lucifer, because now he’s finally admitting the similarities to his imprisonment in hell and Amara’s gilded cage. “Precisely. She is your mother. Fuck whether or not she actually created you, she raised you. She held you up when God tore you down. She knew what the price of doing that would be. She knew God would come for her, and she chose to protect her kids above herself anyway. You need no forgiveness, although she’ll give it for your own sake, because the choice was not yours to make.”

“I don’t understand.”

Dean lets out the air holding up in his lungs, and he begs silently for forgiveness of the secrets he was about to let loose. “My father told me to take Sammy and run. The house was on fire, and I might have managed to help him save my mother, the one who gave birth to me if I stayed, maybe, I’ll never know. Is it my fault that my mother died? Do I need to beg for forgiveness of my mother for saving her youngest son, for running?”

“Of course not.”

“Sammy was told from a young age to pick up a gun and shoot the monsters that go bump in the night. Is he at fault for the monsters that were likely similar to Azazel, creatures made for a different purpose no more evil than you or me?”

“No.”

“Ellen could have taken us from John. She could have forced him to leave us somewhere we could have a home. She could have forced the hands to put us down long before they even considered doing so. Tell me is she to blame for the scars that I got from John? Is she responsible for the silent ones on Sam’s mind?”

“Ellen could never be blamed for such things,” he states in the most confident tone he can drag up from his soul. He will accept a good deal of blame for himself, he could even handle giving some to Dean, but he will not let Dean bad mouth Ellen. She loves him even when he doesn’t deserve any of it.

“No, she couldn’t. Because she didn’t know the future. Neither did you.”

Lucifer throws his head back where he cranes his head around where Dean has to see his face. He can tell that he looks ragged and worn out, and he knows that he’s pushing for a fight. He’s pushing for Dean to push back at him. He wants Dean to take control and force him to do what needs to be done. He doesn’t want all of this to be on him anymore. He wants the pain to fade into the darkness where all dark things belong. “What if I can’t bring myself to believe you?”

Dean leans down and presses a gentle kiss to Lucifer’s stretched out neck. He should back them down from the edge, but Lucifer had always planned on skirting this line today and trying to bring them back to the normal world, just wasn’t going to be enough. “Then, tell me how to make you. Or tell me to make you pay for those mistakes.”

“Don’t understand,” he pants. He can’t figure out what Dean means. He’d planned on pushing Dean into making him feel pain and pleasure where he could beg Amara to forgive him while he let himself fall into the depths of pain and redemption.

Dean spreads his mouth and bites down hard. Harder than a human would be capable of. The jerk below him tells him that the pain hits first and the pleasure second. “That wasn’t one of the options. There are only two things that you are allowed to say right now. One of them is to tell me what would convince you that your aunt will forgive you the moment that you’re brave enough to ask her for it. The other one of them is to tell me to give you the pain that you’ve been dancing us towards since we entered this room. I don’t care which one you choose today. In fact, I’m never going to blame you for whichever choice you make, but I will make you choose each time.”

“Just push me over the edge. Send me over the line of what is normal. Send me across the bounds of normal emotion. Make me feel pleasure and pain. Let me atone today in my way, and let tomorrow be whatever tomorrow is.”

Dean spins them both, so Lucifer is trapped under him on the bed. “I can give you that tonight.” Then, he keeps one hand on Lucifer’s back keeping him pressed down to the bed as he removes both of their clothes with as little movement from Lucifer’s body as he could manage. 

Dean pushes with more strength than he probably should, but given the breathy moan that Lucifer admits the second that more of Dean’s weight presses up against him, he’s going to let himself go with the instinct to help out for now. “I think that making your ass a nice shade of red before taking it would be a delightful way to start this evening.”

Lucifer pushes back up against the weight to feel the strength given to Dean by Amara’s mark, before relaxing underneath him. “Please.”

Dean’s hand remains firm on the center of Lucifer’s back keeping him pressed down to the bed, not that Dean actually thinks that Lucifer is going to try in the slightest to get away from the attack. If his guess is correct, Lucifer will probably start pushing himself towards the pain rather than away from it. So, he raises his other hand and brings it down with a harsh crack.

A whimper escapes Lucifer as he pushes back into the hit. He can’t help but feel dizzy with the power that Dean holds over him right now. The darkness wasn’t trying to corrupt him, the pain wasn’t trying to destroy him, they were doing a game, a scene because Lucifer asked for it in a semi-rational conversation. “Dean,” he asks. 

Dean pauses decidingly not letting the next blow fall as he realized that Lucifer had called his name. They hadn’t established a safeword because for all instances in this case doing so might be more harmful than it would be good, but still he won’t push a line that Lucifer deliberately sets. “Yes, love.”

“Can I give myself over to the feelings of all of this and just let the pain wash over me? Will you catch me when I fall? I don’t know what all you want from me from what you’ve told me.”

Dean removes the hand keeping Lucifer flat on the bed, to reach up and stroke through Lucifer’s hair. A natural calming sensation that causes the tension in Lucifer to release somewhat. “Let yourself fall however you feel like, love. I won’t let you crash tonight, and I’ll endeavor never to let you fall as long as we are married.”

“We bonded souls, that’ll be forever.”

Dean lets a smirk cover his face as he moves his hand back down to keep Lucifer in the position for the spanking about to follow. “That’s also true,” he replies before he starts bringing his hand down on Lucifer’s ass.

He’s careful not to strike up a full pattern, although he makes sure to keep the balance of strikes somewhat even to give a level burn across the whole of the ass. The hits bring color to Lucifer but the color fades after just a couple second. He’s not sure whether his goal will be attainable if Lucifer falls over the edge long before his ass starts collecting the color for long period of time.

Lucifer’s brain powers off around the hundredth hit, Dean’s not going slow or waiting for much indication of stopping. If he chose to fight back tonight, Dean would be more hesitant, but the pain pushes back at his guilt. He’s still too close to his thoughts, and a part of him wants to ask Dean to grab one of their belts and just use more power against him. 

Dean notices the slight shift underneath him, and he realizes that Lucifer’s brain might be letting the pain pass him over, but he’s not yet at the point where he’s willing to let the pain wash over him and let him drown in his own feelings rather than staying on the mental plane where he feels so much guilt after all of these years. He pushes the strength up just a bit, confident that if he can get Lucifer to start verbally replying to his attacks, that he’ll succeed in the rest of his actions much easier.

Lucifer holds on for quite a while. Not that he’s really trying to hold on to his natural instincts to keep Dean from hearing all of the things that he’s been keeping inside, but because he can’t remember the last time he trusted anyone to hold him back when he fell. The small whimper that escapes from his lips causes the strikes to stop for just a moment, then they came back harder.

The sounds don’t stop now. Dean can tell that Lucifer is rushing towards a safe space now, because he doesn’t stop sending himself backwards into the blows and every strike gets either a breathy moan, a sharp exhale, or a whimper. He won’t do anything further until he actually gets Lucifer to plead with him to give him more, and that will be a fun situation to cause. 

The mark doesn’t have any burn at all. This isn’t giving pain the way that the mark expected pain to be given, this is the pain of two lovers making sure that the other one trusted them enough to fall over the edge without any hesitation. 

Eventually, Lucifer tumbles over the edge where he cares about nothing other than pleasure and pain. Where the guilt that built up over centuries of inaction because the person that he should have been able to trust with everything that he was chose to break him doesn’t have a place. Where he can almost feel okay again without wondering whether that’s just another betrayal. “Dean, please. More, please.”

Dean stops the blows and runs his hands up and down the side of Lucifer’s body to get the constant shake out of him. Just because all of the trust is in him, doesn’t mean that he can just do whatever he wants. He has to make sure that neither of them go tumbling over the edge. He has to make sure that they both stay together by the end of everything.

Lube gets put on his hand as he slides down to Lucifer’s crack. He slips one finger in and watches the pure bliss that crosses Lucifer’s face. He goes slow, so slow that at some points Lucifer almost takes action to try to make him go faster. Those moments never last longer than it takes for Dean to get a hand back on the center of Lucifer’s back.

Dean slips inside Lucifer, and both of them let out moans. Lucifer’s is high pitched, a mixture of pain and pleasure. The rough burn of someone rubbing up against raw skin. Dean’s is low, a mixture of bliss and wonder. The trust given over to him by someone who has every right to never trust again. 

They come at the same time, just toppling over the edge. Never fighting the gentle pace that Dean set for them both before they started this game. 

As Dean cleans them up, so they can go to bed, Lucifer leans up to stare at Dean. “I love you.”

Dean leans over and presses a soft kiss to his lips. “I love you too.”

“If you trust her. If you trust Aunt Amara enough to risk our family, I’ll trust you to do that, but I don’t know if I can do it myself. I don’t know if I can force myself to trust someone else like them again. He broke me, Dean.”

Dean hops into the bed, drawing Lucifer into the bed. “He didn’t break you, love. He tried really hard but here you are with me in hell, where we’re going to build an empire made to withstand the wrath of gods. And you never have to be the one offering peace to Amara, that’s on me. That’s one of the many things that I took on when I married you.”

“I think I got the better part of the deal.”

Dean chuckles. “Go to sleep, Lucifer. You can debate which one of us is luckier in the morning. Preferably when you’re back to being confident in yourself and telling me that I’m the lucky one.”

“That’s another mask,” Lucifer mumbles.

“I know, but you prefer having it on.”

Lucifer’s eyes droop down and he finally falls asleep, much to Dean’s delight. 

Dean falls asleep rather quickly after Lucifer. Praising Amara for giving him the ability to actually get Lucifer to trust him enough to fall all the way down with the expectation that Dean would catch him before he hit the ground hard.


	40. The Love of a mother #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azazel goes to Ellen and asks for help. He's not quite expecting her to have a plan ready to go in seconds and that she'll be the one putting herself in danger.

Azazel slips out of hell while everyone else in the family stays around he area. He had a standing offer from Castiel to meet him at the playground anytime that he wants. He hasn’t found the time to go since the wedding, but after they’ve finally gotten a little bit of power in Dean, he should be able to leave without chaos spreading. 

He steps out of the shadows hoping that Castiel was correct that no one else would be looking for anyone stopping by. He doesn’t relish becoming a pile of ash because an angel decided to try to smite him today.

Castiel steps out of a glowing light with a smile on his face. “I wasn’t sure you were ever going to take me up on my offer to come by.”

“Well it defies all forms of logic and all natural processes, and I think that makes it one of the most demonic things I’ve ever done.”

Castiel tilts his head to the side running those words through his head, trying to make sense of them. “You don’t consider all of the torture, all of the evil more demonic in nature.”

“That’s not in my nature. That was just the easiest path to take for a while. Evil cannot belong to demons alone, after all Hitler had no help from us.”

“Stalin killed more people than Hitler did, and for a while he had the support of the angels,” Castiel chimes in.

Azazel chuckles and steps towards the angel. He reaches his arm out but carefully avoids actually touching the angel. The angel doesn’t like uninitiated contact, so he’ll never make that final move, but he’ll offer each time they meet up.

Castiel accepts the hug for what it is. “You didn’t come here to discuss the demonic possibilities for evil. You have a problem that you’re hoping I’ll have some insight into.”

“Another opinion really. I know I can’t tell you everything so some of the things that you say may not make any sense given the situation, but you’re one of the few people that I can trust in this world.”

“And I’m not a member of your family and have bias.”

Azazel snaps his head up. “Don’t say that. Don’t make it seem like you’re less to me than them. You mean something. You convinced me to speak to people about what I wanted. You are the reason I’m brave enough to call my father, father. The reason that I dared to give his husband a title that invites familiarity. That means more to me than most of the additional members of my family.”

Castiel’s face drops. He hates it when he says the wrong thing and makes Azazel angry at him. He doesn’t understand the emotions well enough to see the cues, and he’s sure that eventually Azazel will figure out that he isn’t worth the time. 

Azazel hesitates for only a second before tugging the angel closer and pressing them close enough to feel each other’s breath. He lowers his voice to a whisper. “You matter to me, Castiel.”

“For now.”

“Forever.”

Castiel turns to raise an eyebrow to Azazel. “We’re immortal beings that can only be killed by the other’s species who are doomed for war. You can’t possibly think we’ll be able to maintain any of this for eternity.”

“If you think that’s crazy, you should see the rest of my family. Maybe you haven’t heard, but the righteous man bound his soul to the devil’s. Or don’t forget the flirting between the archangel Gabriel and Sam Winchester. Or if those things aren’t quite crazy enough for you, don’t forget how the humans and demons are the ones to drag Michael back into the fold every time he crumbles. Caring about you for eternity is almost sane compared to those I have to call my own,” Azazel teases.

“They love each other. You might be fond of me, but you don’t love me.”

Azazel rolls his eyes. Only an angel could possibly be this obtuse. “Don’t inform me that I can’t love who I please. I won’t listen to such blasphemy.”

Castiel sighs. He knows that the demon is merely trying to spare his feelings. He wishes that they could just be honest with one another, but that might be the consequence of being friends with a demon. A trade has to be made in order to stabilize the imbalance of the friendship. 

Azazel almost pushes forward and pushes Castiel to admit the truth. But the angel was right the first time with that he has other concerns that he wants to bring up. “I have siblings. Four to be precise. One of them has no morals at all, and I don’t think even father’s love will stop her from trying to kill every single being in front of her. But the others, I think that they could still be reached if they knew that they had a place to turn to.”

“So reach for them.”

“Nothing is ever that simple.”

Castiel reaches down to grab Azazel’s hand and twines their fingers together. “Why shouldn’t that be the way the world works? You want to save them, so try. The worst possible result is that they can’t be saved, and you’ll know that you tried.”

“I don’t want my father to have to kill them.”

“He won’t. Dean Winchester would take that hit. He’ll take almost all of the hits that could possibly hurt any of you. That’s pretty much the only thing you can count on from this universe. Dean Winchester is the best of us all.”

Azazel laughs a carefree noise across the park. “Castiel, don’t you pay attention to the world. Dean Winchester may not be able to kill them. He’s their father as well. He is my papa. He can’t take that pain, it’ll hurt him too much.”

Castiel shakes his hand. “He won’t care. I promise if it comes down to it, that I would bet my soul on Dean taking the hit.”

Azazel places his chin on top of Castiel’s head, letting himself lean on the angel. “How do you start a conversation with estranged family? Should I head to where I know they reside on Earth? Should I reach to the sister I feel has crossed too many borders? Should I involve other members of my family? Or should I bring them my siblings to show that they can fall alone and land in the arms of those they care about?”

“So many questions because you have so many options, but let me ask the one that you haven’t managed to ask. What will you do when they ask for proof? Who will you call when they ask for proof that someone is willing to save them from themselves? They’ll ask. They may not believe you after you offer that proof, but who are you willing to call with nothing to ask them to make a genuine offer?”

“Satan would be best just because he’s their actual father, but he’ll hesitate. He’ll reach just like he did with his brother, but he’ll leave enough room to avoid a painful break, but that might force my siblings further into the darkness.”

Castiel nods. “So Lucifer is off the table.”

“None of the other archangels know of them or potentially care. Not that I blame them, but that won’t do anyone any good. Sam is too judgmental to make them feel better.”

“Alright, that leaves Adam, who is definitely too new to the family to drag anyone back with him. He could try, but some of them would let him try,” Castiel adds. He’s not really sure who Azazel will choose, but he’ll try to help out to the best of his ability. That just seems like the polite thing to do when someone asks for your help.

“And Dean needs to distance himself just in case they don’t agree with the family position, because he’s already planning on taking the shot you believe he’ll always take.”

Azazel closes his eyes as he realizes exactly who he needs with him. He needs his grandmother. He needs Ellen. Ellen would love them without ever meeting them just because Azazel said that he needed to try to save them. Ellen would offer them comfort even if they weren’t willing to come home. She’d give them a number to call.

Castiel watches as Azazel’s tension drains, and he knows that Azazel will leave soon. Probably to go drag his siblings back to hell where they belong. For some reason that fills him with dread. He figures that eventually God will get tired of the flip-flop nature of this whole family, and he’ll hurt them all.

Azazel ducks down to press a kiss to Castiel’s cheek in a chaste measure. “Thank you for listening. Thank you for giving me a place to come. I’ll try to come back more often. Try not to believe that you don’t deserve love. Love doesn’t care about whether you deserve it, it only cares about whether its offered. And I offered you love, so you have it.”

He teleports out because now he needs to find Ellen and beg her to help him. Beg her to come with him on a possible suicide mission to ask his siblings whether they even still want to come home. He has to try, because Castiel is right. He’ll never sleep if he doesn’t.

To his surprise Ellen stands outside her door waiting for him. “Why is it that all of my boys radiate their concern before they show up at my door?” she asks. 

His lips curl up into a smile. “We don’t radiate concern, you just read us well enough to tell that something is brewing so that you can prepare to wrap us up in your arms when we break.”

“You about to break?”

“I’m hoping maybe this time, you can help keep me from hitting that broken place. I’m kind of hoping you’ll help me try something stupid on the off chance it means that I can save people that I love, and I know that this plan is insane, and that all logical bets include running far away from what’s currently happening.”

Ellen nods her head. She bites down on her lip then pushes herself to stand up tall. “Well what’s this plan then.”

Azazel takes a deep breath to calm himself. He shouldn’t just blurt it out. He needs to have reasons, a plan.

“Nope. Whatever’s causing you to try to shut down some of your emotions, quit it. Tell me exactly what you were debating blurting out if I hadn’t spoke first.”

Azazel swallows harshly. “I’m not Lucifer’s only son.” He can’t call Satan father right now to Ellen’s face, and she always looks so sad when he calls his father Satan. “I have four siblings, and I need to try to offer them a place in this family. But I can’t be the one to offer. I’m just,” he trails off not sure where to finish. 

“You’re just another one of his kids. You’re the brother. You can’t be both the brother and the offer of a savior, and you’re not asking Lucifer to come because you’re confident that Lucifer will try to make sure that this family doesn’t splinter when they show up with a host of daddy issues and trust issues.”

Azazel ducks his head in a sheepish nod. He knows that this isn’t the healthiest strategy, but he needs help.

Ellen sighs. Her boys were just constantly getting themselves into more and more trouble. “Here’s how this is going to work. You’re going to give me their names and how to get to them, and I’m going to go drag Lucifer’s kids home. While I’m going to get four demons to drag them home as a human, you’re going to go to Dean and tell him that you’re bringing the rest of Lucifer’s kids home.”

“I don’t understand.”

Ellen shakes her head. “You being there will make them think it’s an attack, and we can’t convince them of anything if they think they’ll fall. Don’t worry, if any of them attack me, I’ll have Crowley come with me as silent and distant back up. Also to act as a teleporter.”

Azazel offers her a blinding smile. “You’re the best of us, you know that right?”

Ellen wraps her arms around him. “No, I’m not. I’m just currently the only parental figure any of you have. Well, you also have Bobby, but he’s a little gruff around the edges and still has some anger for what happened to John, and the fact that he blames you. Now, tell me the names so I can go find Crowley and start dragging my grandchildren home.”

“Ramiel is somewhere here in hell just he doesn’t usually interact with any of us anymore, but he’ll be the easiest to find and perhaps the easiest to convince to find his brother or his father. Asmodeus is on Earth, a small cabin in Montana. Crowley can follow his trail. He hasn’t talked about what happened between all of us since the first discussion of the apocalypse. Dagon is hiding up on Earth, waiting for something, none of us ever know what. Sometimes it will be Lucifer reaching out, sometimes it will be an act from God. I can’t tell you how she’ll react. Then, there’s Abandon. She got locked into the world of Oz in order to keep her from killing more humans. I don’t know whether she’ll listen to you, but please, Ellen, please at least try to speak to her.”

Ellen brushes his hair from his face as she nods. “Go to Dean Winchester, Azazel. I’ll bring home as many of them as I can. I’ll try my hardest for each of them. I’ll reach as far as I can, even if that means putting my neck on the line.”


	41. The Children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam apologizes, and Dean gets an armful of way more children than he thought he'd ever have. Also bad things happen. God had a plan, but somehow Dean and Ellen's ability to create a family keeps interfering.

Sam hesitates at the break of the door. He hasn’t ever knocked on the door when both Dean and Lucifer were in there. Actually, he never came by here. He’d ask either of them to come to him, or he’d meet them in a neutral place. His breathes come uneasy as he finally pushes through his nerves to knock on the door.

For some reason he assumed that Lucifer would be the one to open the door, since Dean is the one that needs sleep at least for a portion of the time, but Dean swings the door open. He takes one look at his brother and falls to the door frame.

Dean blinks in order to make sure this isn’t just paranoia talking. Nope, Sammy is standing outside their door in the nighttime or at least what they’re calling nighttime. Not only is he standing here, he looks like he’s ready to start a fight or burst into tears. They can’t ever catch a break. He pushes the door open further and spreads an arm out to invite him inside. 

Sam walks in at the invitation to see that Lucifer has barely propped himself up on the bed. His hair is all kinds of a mess and he’s looking at Sam as if he’s seen a ghost. Or maybe like he can see the thoughts that are piling up in his head. “Lucifer.”

“Sammy, my name is Sam.”

Sam can’t help but laugh. He does the same thing that Gabriel does. He says the words with the same careful consideration as if this was normal. As if some parts of this made any sense at all. As if they’d make it through somehow. “I need to talk to you.”

Dean closes the door with a light push to make sure that no one can enter. He lets out the breath he was holding. If Sam was offering to talk, the facial expression was probably closer to tears than to a fight. “You’re welcome to speak.”

Lucifer casts a glare over at Dean before pushing the covers off the bed and pulling himself up into a seated position. He avoids making the low moan he wants to at the shift on his still slightly burning ass, because Sam doesn’t need that when he’s trying to make an effort to go forward. He opens his arms. “You’re welcome here. You are my husband’s brother, and you are Sam Winchester. One of those is more important than the other, not that you realized it before right now.”

Sam walks forward and accepts the hug that Lucifer is offering. He accepts the comfort. He doesn’t deserve that kind of compassion from the man that he was trying to tear apart before today, but the fates seem to want him to anyway. “I’m sorry.”

Lucifer snorts, he waves a hand to get Dean to stay back and not offer his own words yet. This has to be for him and Sam for a couple of minutes, or at least until he can convince Sam that he’s not the only one to blame for the tension between them. “I forgive you.”

“Gabriel told me that in another universe. In one of the ones where you and Dean never fell in love, but ended up on the same side by token of the not wanting God to kill humanity, that you were willing to die so I could live a normal human life.”

Lucifer regards him for a long moment, then nods. “I don’t see the other universes as well as Gabriel does. He has a knack for gliding in between them to find the one we’re on and the ones we’ve tried before, or rather have run to completion. We haven’t won in any of them. He doesn’t share what happens in them most of the time. The only one that I can see with clarity is the one I told Dean about. If you want definite answers about that time, you need to ask Gabriel or Cain. They’re the only two outside of God and Amara who see almost everything.”

Sam nods. “He mentioned that in part. He told me that souls remember the worlds anyway. He says that his soul knows both mine and Dean’s. In fact, he said that most of the rest of you have soul ties in some fashion or another to each other. Except for me, none of you ever make me have to make that choice of whether I’m willing to throw down with God.”

Lucifer nods again against Sam’s shoulder. “Yep. You’re one of the few souls that isn’t touched by the other universes, because you’re the only one of us that sometimes manages to stay out of the situation. Sometimes we convince God to never try to involve you.”

Sam turns around so that Lucifer can see his face. “I’m not hiding this time. I won’t let you avoid that choice again. You’re here, and so am I. We’re going to tear that bastard down to the ground and remind him that when you make beings that can think, one day they’ll think better than you.”

Lucifer gazes into his eyes for a little bit of time. “Let me ask you a question. How much of that is because you trust us? And how much is this because you’ve figured out you love Gabriel?”

“You know that I’m in love with your brother.”

“Mark is on his soul. He’s been touched by love from you before, he’s made sure to hold back pushing that mark on you, but this time you’re not going to let him take the safe route. You’ll ask him to tie you both together. I won’t stop you. I might even encourage you, but you have to understand that we might not win. This might be another universe where we try our hardest to win the war, but we fail.”

Sam grins, a sharp and grim expression. Something that fits with the description of his brother in another world. “This could be, or this could be another action that sends us closer to the correct path. I was going to make this choice eventually, and I’m not going another universe without being with all of you. Family, right?”

“Family,” Lucifer replies.

Dean rolls his eyes and climbs into the bed. “Family. Family that happens to be keeping me awake.”

Sam pushes himself up. “Sorry. I can head back out. Sorry to wake you up, Dean.”

“Lay your ass back down on this bed. I’m not kicking you out after you felt guilty for what you did to Lucifer when you didn’t trust him. Just sleep.”

Sam falls back when Lucifer tugs and a cover floats over them, and his eyes start drooping closed, but then a knock comes from the door.

Dean mumbles under his breath. “I swear this family needs an intervention over what proper sleep schedules are.” His head shoots up. “If you’re family, walk in. If you’re not family, you should start running now and maybe I won’t come to find you in the morning.”

Azazel pushes the door open with the remnants of tears in his eyes. “I kind of need my parents.” 

Dean’s out of the bed before he can say anything more, his arms circling Azazel. “You’re fine. You’re fine. There’s a reason the exception for family was made in my statement. You’re always welcome with us.”

Azazel leans into Dean’s embrace. He knows that he should start speaking and allowing both of his parents to make their own decisions on his decision to go to Ellen first and not them. Instead another racking sob overtakes him as he worries both about Ellen’s safety and his siblings potential suffering. 

Lucifer moves so that Sam is on the far end of the bed, still next to Lucifer but with plenty of room next to them for both Azazel and Dean to crawl into bed. He reminds himself to ask Dean whether they should consider getting a larger bed in case any of the rest of the family ever needs to show up at once. Four people would push the limits of their bed size, and from what he can tell if all of his siblings needed something one night or even if one of them showed up tonight they’d have problems.

Dean guides Azazel over to the bed and waves a hand to decrease the lighting in the room. They could all still make out definite shapes and each other’s faces, but they didn’t have to deal with any of the background decorations. “Come on, Az. Tell me what’s wrong. I’ll try to help, so will Lucifer.”

Lucifer wraps a hand around Azazel’s wrist barely tugging before Azazel had his head buried in Lucifer’s neck. “It’ll be alright. Regardless of what you did, it will be alright.”

“How’d you know?”

“You and guilt do not go well together. Even when you were younger, you’d panic at the barest mention of potentially upsetting me. It doesn’t take a genius to understand that if you’re crying and not talking you feel guilty about something.”

Dean’s smile twitches up because honestly that’s a bit amusing to tell them the truth. The fact that Azazel the prince of hell most often ready to tear down the mortal realm has guilt complex when it comes to his father. “I can even promise my forgiveness ahead of time. There’s nothing you could have done that I wouldn’t be able to forgive you for.”

“Even if Ellen is in danger?”

Sam jerks up about ready to lunge across the bed and demand answers, when the arm around him tightens keeping him pinned to the bed. 

Lucifer pushes the thought through the mental link that they shared for a while. “You’ve been forgiven for your transgressions. Give him the time to explain and trust Dean and I to discipline our own child if the need arises.”

Sam relaxes in the hold hoping to convey sincerity. He hadn’t meant to make Lucifer upset, but the idea of Ellen in danger terrifies him. Still, they’re right he needs to wait for them to make the decision. He has no direct claim to Azazel where both Dean and Lucifer do.

Dean lets out a sigh of relief as he realizes that neither of the other two were going to speak and start making trouble in his attempt to calm the situation down. Thank God for small blessings at this rate. “Did you force her into a dangerous situation?”

“No. Of course not. I’d never hurt your mother like that. Papa, please.”

Dean shakes his head almost daring someone to question his decision. Seriously, the trust issues within this family cause him to question whether they even had sanity left. He tugs Azazel down back to where his arms could reach. “Then, there is no way that I could blame you for the situation she chose to get herself into. Now what exactly did you go ask Ellen to do? And why do you believe you need our forgiveness for it?”

Azazel’s eyes flicker over to Lucifer with a decent amount of fear shining through, clearly believing that there was a change that Lucifer would get angry at him enough o go after him with Dean around him. “I asked her to help me offer my siblings a place in our family, and I made sure that father couldn’t stop me before she left.” 

Dean lets out a deep sigh before tugging his son back towards the bed where Lucifer has reached out his arms to take his son into his arms. “Can I assume Ellen told you to make sure we didn’t know before she left? Because kid, you’re a bundle of nerves, you wouldn’t have made that decision alone.”

Azazel nods.

Sam picks himself off the bed. “I guess I’m not going to go to Ellen to ask for comfort after finding out everything.”

Lucifer releases one hand from holding his son to him to pull Sam back down into the comfort of the bed. “Nope. You’re not going to leave when you’re still emotional. No chick flick moments required. Just take comfort from the ones around you until you’re not ready to bite someone’s head off.”

Lucifer turns to Azazel to start stroking his hair down. Once upon a time, he would have been beyond furious that someone was daring to circumvent his will but this was family, and Azazel was trying to save his siblings even knowing that for most of them that was a lost cause. “You’re forgiven, little one. Don’t worry about this anymore. This is off your shoulders.”

Dean kneels down to draw Azazel’s eyes to him. “It was never going to fall only on your shoulders. I will fight every second of every world to make sure that you’re safe, and that as many of Lucifer’s children as I can drag into my embrace are safe. None of them will die if I have any say in the matter and as it turns out, I’m pretty badass now.”

Azazel chuckles despite himself. “I just want them to have a chance to come home, and father isn’t the best at olive branches unless you’re right there next to him, and to be honest you might cause some tension.”

Another knock comes on the door, this one much more hesitant than either of the ones before it. Dean turns to stare at Lucifer as if he was physic. 

“Umm, may I enter, kings of hell?” a voice echoes into the room through the crack of the door.

Lucifer freezes. He hasn’t heard Ramiel’s voice in years. He stays in hell and tries to keep some of the lesser demons that want his head from ever getting close enough to do any true damage. He glances down at the kid in his lap, the human at his feet, and the human pressed up against him and nods. He can manage trying to be a family man. No promises that it would be pretty, but he would give it his best shot. “Rule is that family can come in at any point, so if you’re willing to enter as family and not a subject in this kingdom, you’re welcome.”

Dean turns so his face will be one of the first sights through the door. That way he can catch a sight of his other child. 

Ramiel pushes the door open, then hurriedly makes sure that its closed again. “Sorry for the interruption, I’m sure that you’re all extremely busy, and we haven’t talked in centuries.”

“Family, kid, means we don’t care why you’re here, just means we get to be happy that you came. I’m Dean, pretty sure you swore featly at that crazy wedding.”

Ramiel pauses taking in the state of Azazel and the humans near his father. “I wasn’t aware we were pretending to be a family,” he says.

Lucifer snorts. “You don’t get to turn off family, kid. Unfortunately for you, you had the awful luck of being born to me.”

Ramiel steps towards the bed, then turns at the last moment to crash on the chair near the bed. He leans his head back. “The human woman, introduced herself as Ellen?”

“My mother through things stronger than birth,” Dean answers.

“Right. She told me that we were all turning over new leaves and trying really hard to be decent folks. Now decent doesn’t really make sense to me, given last time I checked we’re planning on spitting on God’s face. I’m not asking you to trust me with the plan. I wouldn’t do that even if I had stuck by your side through all of this. Ellen said that I didn’t have to know the plan, that I could curl up in this room and worry about the rest later as I remembered what family was.”

Lucifer chuckles and reaches one hand from around Azazel out towards Ramiel, just in case things hadn’t changed and all of his kids reach for touch like it could save them. “Sounds like Ellen. You’re welcome to stay. All of you.”

Dagon steps into the room with slippers padding on the cold stone. “I thought I had gotten better at hiding myself from your gaze.”

“If it makes you feel better, I couldn’t tell which one of my children was outside, I could just tell that one of them was.”

“That does in fact help.”

Dagon pauses then summons a blanket from her old room here in hell. She’s smart enough to know her father wouldn’t have gotten rid of them even after they left because he has sentimental reasons for creating them, even if the gods themselves don’t agree with the decisions that were made. She drops down onto the floor next to Dean with the blanket covering most of her.  
Dean raises an eyebrow but kicks out his legs where she has plenty of room to curl up next to the bed, on top of him, or on the floor.   
Ramiel takes the outstretched hand and clutches onto it for dear life. He has one of his brothers and one of his sisters back in the same room, and no one is trying to kill each other, which for their family requires a good deal of patience.  
“Asmodeus is pissed, like thirty seconds from attempting to burn down hell pissed. He thinks that the fact you were willing to introduce humans into the family before offering to come get him and give him the option of joining the family is a slight against your children,” Dagon comments.

Lucifer drops his head into the pillow willing the day to just end so he can have more than a few moments to deal with the chaos dropped onto him, but he also knows that he’s asking for too much. “I can understand his anger. Perhaps, I’ll be able to reason with him when he shows up to kill me or Dean.”

Dagon nods slowly keeping her eyes on her father. “He won’t get to you. He’ll have to go through your children, his siblings first. We won’t let his anger blind him again. He broke this family once, because he considered you not going after Abandon a personal slight too.”

Lucifer purses his lips. “That sounds awful like an order, daughter.”

“Good to know you haven’t gone deaf in my absence, father.”

Ramiel flinches backwards expecting for the anger to explode the room. Rage to be thrown, perhaps Dagon would go down with a scream, or maybe Dean or Sam would try to take the hit. Maybe Azazel would throw the first punch, that would be better for pain management. 

The rapid panting causes both Dagon and Azazel to move towards their brother with pure fear in their eyes, but Lucifer pushes past them with Dean close behind. 

Where Lucifer kept going to place his hands on Ramiel to try to get him back into the real world, Dean tucks both children into his arms. “It’ll be okay. He’s just having a panic attack. Probably scared that someone was going to react to the teasing with violence.”

“Father’s never touched any of us in anger. I mean he punished us when we were younger and probably still would today if we crossed to large of a line, but he wouldn’t just actually respond in rage because of some light teasing that would be beyond ridiculous. That would verge on the line of being catatonic,” Dagon rants.

Dean’s hand starts stroking up and down her arm. Constant reassurance that he wouldn’t be leaving her to deal with any of this alone. “You’re right. Most of the time this strong of a reaction would have to be from a history with this type of thing, which your brother doesn’t have. But in this case, since every action we’ve taken, is slowly unraveling God’s plan for the known universe, he might have tried to influence your decisions to come here with some amount of panic or indecision or increased anger to try to stop you.”

Azazel leans his head on Dean’s shoulder. “That’s why I’m safe, isn’t it? Because at the end of the day, I’ve always been here. Even when I had no reason to be, I made sure that I was here with you and Father, so he can’t touch me.”

Lucifer ignores Dean comforting his other children, keeping his focus on the one trapped inside his own head. His hand draws up to cup the side of Ramiel’s face, but no recognition is present. It almost seems like the entire body has locked down too scared to allow for any situations to get through. “Sam, can you run and grab literally any of my brothers? Actually, maybe all of them.”

Sam throws on his shoes without hesitation. “Yes. I’ll bring them here the second that I find them.”


	42. The Recruitment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam gathers the entire family to try to outsmart God's attempts on Ramiel's life.

Sam bursts out the hallway trying to piece together where the best place to look for archangels would be. His natural plan would be to run to their room, but he bets he’s not going to get lucky today and with his luck only one of them would actually be there and then he’d be running around hell even more frantically.

That’s the only thing that regards a plan that he has, though, so he takes off towards the room. None of the demons that he passes give him any mind, probably because they’ve decided that if something is causing the brother of their kings to run through the hall when everyone is supposed to be sleeping, that they don’t want to get in the middle of the situation or in any way be asked whether they hindered the path of the person that was supposed to be getting help at that moment. They’d be too scared to do anything other than run. 

Sam knocks on the door with almost enough energy to push it open. Honestly, he’s not sure whether this counts as a situation to knock down the door or not.

Michael opens the door and takes in the appearance of Sam. “Do you need to come in? Gabriel isn’t here, but I can try to find him for you.”

“At this point, I need all of you. Is Rafael here?”

Michael shakes his head. “No, Gabriel said he was going to wait for you to have a discussion about the future of your relationship, and Rafael said he wanted to reflect on the other universe in private.”

Sam closes his eyes and curses his blind luck. Why the one time that he’s actually prepared to help people out to the best of his ability without making comments about helping demons and the devil try to save people, no one would actually be where he could get to them easily.

“Long story, but I’ll give you a condensed version. Lucifer’s kids are coming home, some of them are coming in hot ready to take off either Lucifer’s or Dean’s head. There’s been arguing over which one of them the children are trying to kill, but then Ramiel had a panic attack, and Lucifer says he needs his brothers. Since he needs you, and these are his kids, I’m going to go on a manhunt for the rest of the archangels, and you’re going to get to Lucifer.”

Michael pauses. “Sam, are you alright?”

Sam glances up and stares straight into Michael’s eyes. “I don’t care whether the rest of the world could manage to forgive me, if I can’t get my nephews and nieces out of the mess they were born into because Lucifer is God’s pet torture puppet, I won’t forgive myself.”

“It wouldn’t be on you.”

“I don’t think you understand how little I care about what the actual world thinks. I know that I went into that room trying to apologize and integrate myself into the family, and I know that shit went down while I was there, and that these demons are family. So, move.”

Michael pauses for a moment before following the lead and blinking himself to where Lucifer was. He’s not sure how much help he’ll actually be at a time like this, but he can at least try to be a better brother, and a better uncle today.

Sam waits long enough to be sure that Michael left, before turning on his heel. The only place any of them would ever get anything that remotely resembles privacy would be the throne room since only the royal family was allowed in there when court wasn’t in session. He jogs through the hallway towards the throne room without caring what the demons thought.

He’s not the king of hell. He doesn’t have to deal with all of the panic. Honestly, Dean will need to do damage control in the morning while Lucifer is still trying to patch up his kids from whatever has been happening. The throne room, he doesn’t bother knocking on, he just bursts in to find Rafael in the center of the room with tears streaming down his face.

A small part of Sam demands that he take the time to figure out what’s wrong with Rafael, but the larger part of him remembers the frozen stare on Ramiel’s face. “Rafael, I’m super sorry that you’re having a rough day and would probably prefer to stay alone and not deal with anything, but Lucifer needs you right now.”

“I know. I’ve been trying to reach the child since he fell. I could tell even from here, but my father is a smarter man than me. I can’t force him to leave. I don’t have the power.”

Sam cusses every single thing that God has ever touched because seriously. Why was now a good time for God to get all high and mighty with them? They almost had a plan. They almost had a chance to make the world a little bit better. “I’m going to be honest with you Rafael, I don’t think you’re strong enough to overthrow God’s will like this, but I’m positive that between you, Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer, you’re going to find a way. That is your nephew.”

Rafael’s tears stream down his face. “I can’t face him as I fail. I can’t watch my brother’s face as he loses a son.”

“You already have. Maybe not in this universe, but you’ve watched him lose everything that he’s ever loved so many times, Rafael. Get up, get to him, and find a way. This time we’re not all going this alone. We’re doing this as a family.”

Rafael picks himself off the ground to just stare at Sam. “We lose. We lose constantly Sam. Why keep trying?”

“Because one of these times, we’ll find a path that will save us. We’ll find a path where we win at the end of the day. It might not be this universe. This might be just another one where we lose, but we’ll have a better plan next time. And next time we’ll start off with Lucifer and Dean having bonded souls. We’ll start off with me remembering. Maybe that changes things. Maybe it doesn’t. We don’t know, but we have to try.”

Rafael smiles up at him. “I hope you know that this is the first time I’ve ever seen you being the one to give the motivational talks, trying to spur the rest of us idiots into motion.”

Sam nods. “Yeah, well I’ve got another archangel to find, and the rest of the family to gather up. Because I’m going to make sure that even if we fail at the end of this, that Ramiel knows that until the end, he had his entire family standing by him.”

Rafael blinks out of the room, heading straight towards Lucifer. Maybe Sam was right, and this time the fact that they weren’t trying to save people individually would be enough. He’s not really sure how that would work, but he’s if Sam Winchester is finally able to bring himself to try in this world, he can do the same.

Sam doesn’t waste any time. He turns on his heel and tries to think of where Gabriel would look for him. As he’s rushing past the hallways to get back to his room, Adam drops into step with him. 

“Is there a reason we’re running through hell giving half of the citizens the fright of their life?”

“Yep. Ramiel, Lucifer’s son, not sure if you’ve met him, is currently trapped inside a panic attack that could very well end up with his death, since he can’t wake himself back up, and I’m collecting all of the archangels to go save him.”

“I guess I’ll head to help them with whatever else needs to be done, then.” 

Sam catches his arm as he turns to run. “Tell King Dean that he’s going to have to make an announcement soon, because literally all of the royal family is going to be panicked by the end of this, and more than likely the people of hell are going to panic right next to them.”

Adam nods, before taking off.

Sam bursts into his room and sighs in relief when Gabriel was laying on his bed playing with his hands. 

Gabriel looks up to see Sam out of breath and looking like the devil had decided to go a couple rounds with him in the ring. “Hey, I wasn’t expecting you so soon, or looking as though hell has retaken its first set of victims.”

“We’ve got bigger problems than me trying to earn forgiveness, or you trying to diffuse the situation,” Sam snaps. Then, he remembers that Gabriel knows nothing of what’s happening right now and takes in several deep breaths. “Sorry, I shouldn’t take out my fear on you. Ramiel came by Dean’s room, asking to see the family, or more accurately trying to gage whether the family was real. Then, Dagon came by. Dagon and Lucifer did there normal bickering like an old married couple routine, or Lucifer said it was a normal routine. Something God did set Ramiel into a full panic, and now we’ve got one of my brother’s sons stuck in his own head with no way out. You need to get there now. Try to make sure that somehow, we don’t break from this. I’ll round up any of the family still in hell. Ellen and Crowley won’t be, but that leaves Bobby and Jo that can come with who aren’t already there.”

“Slow down. Why are Lucifer’s kids trying to reach out to him? That hasn’t happened in any other universe.”

“We haven’t made a full family in any other universe either. This is just another one of those diverging paths, because of the other choices we made.”

Gabriel stares at Sam for ten seconds just taking all of that in. “You’ve changed.”

“I’ve taken a side. If Dean says that Lucifer is the one he loves, then Lucifer is going to be my brother, even if both of us hate it with everything we are. If Dean says that Lucifer’s kids are his, then Lucifer’s kids are my nephews and nieces. Which means that it is my family in there dying because some pissed off God who can’t handle anyone holding a different opinion decided that you all have to suffer for loving a family member.”

“Try not to start a war while finding the others. It would be hard to save someone, if I’m also having to fight off one of the most powerful creatures to have ever existed.”

Sam grins over at him baring his teeth in a way that leaves no doubt to his opinion on the matter. “Trust me, if I start a war, I’ll have found someone strong enough to take on God with us by their side, and I’ll make sure the whole family is ready to start that war.”

Gabriel nods once before teleporting out of the room and straight into Dean’s. He’ll need more information about what they think God did before he can actually save anyone, but at this rate, he might succeed in trying at the very least. 

Sam leaps into action flying out of his own room over to where Bobby’s room was. He knocks on the door as loud as he can to get the older man up. He can’t justify knocking down the door at this point in the evening, but he needs Bobby to know that this isn’t one of the issues that he can just sleep through. 

The door flies open, and Bobby’s flare barely lessens as he sees Sam’s face. “You better have a damn good reason for getting me up in the middle of the night, boy.”

“Dean’s kid is at minimum being tortured, quite possibly dying.”

Bobby blinks. “Damn idjits,” he mumbles. He grabs a shirt from the pile near his bed and tugs it on. “Start telling more than just Dean’s kid and pain. I need a little more information, such as when did Dean get a kid that wasn’t Azazel, because you would have said his name if it was him, and why is he currently on the downward spiral that is torture.”

Sam nods. “We’re picking up Jo, then I’ll explain as we walk.” He leaves without checking to see if Bobby’s following him. He’s pretty sure that he will, after all he’s gotten the attention of the man now, so he’ll have to stick around if only to figure out why Sam is panicking right now. 

Sam slaps the door to Jo’s room, fully aware that the girl was more than likely both up and confused by all the ruckus going around the kingdom right now. 

Jo comes to the door automatically with a gun in one hand and a knife in the other. “I assume something bad is happening otherwise you wouldn’t be here right now, looking at me like I need to be ready for a fight.”

“Wish it was a fight that we could end with guns and knives.”

Bobby turns on the spot to look at Sam with some amount of surprise. He’d been expecting there to have been a fight of some kind that they needed to get in on before anyone else got hurt.

“Right. Ramiel is another one of Lucifer’s kids. He got an invitation to show up and try to play happy family with the rest of us lunatics. He showed up, and Dean embraced him as his own. As Dean tends to do with literally anyone who needs a family. But, apparently, God saw that coming and conditioned a panic attack of epic proportions for when Lucifer and Dagon were teasing each other.”

Jo catches Sam’s arm to slow him down slightly so that her and Bobby don’t get left in the dust as he heads towards the bedroom of Dean and Lucifer. “Sam, who’s Dagon?”

“Daughter. Safe right now.”

Dean pushes open the door as they arrive with a glare on his face. “Get in, try to help the angels find a plan. I’m going to go make a couple of announcements to hell, and booby trap hell against God just in case he shows up here.”


	43. The Archangel's Solution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The angel's try their best to save Ramiel, but faith can only go so far, and God has their powers in his notebook of things to be on the lookout for.

Lucifer doesn’t pay any attention to what happens once Sam leaves the room. He knows full well that Dean will take care of the other children, so that they don’t panic also. He keeps his mind pushing at the boundaries of Ramiel’s. He can’t get in enough to actually do any help against the panic, but he can keep the panic from growing any. He needs his brothers who can see what he sees and give him ideas for what to do when all of this is happening right now.

His magic weaves in and out as he tries to find strands within Ramiel’s head to hold on to and pull. This fear wasn’t natural, which makes him want to go on the rage that seems to be playing in Ramiel’s brain. His father realized that he couldn’t find a way to turn most of his children against him, he went with causing them the most pain possible. 

Michael’s hand falls on his shoulder in silent support. “I have no skills in mental manipulation. I can’t reach him, but I can hold the same bridge you are, if you wish to try,” he offers.

“I’d prefer if Gabriel reached for his mental bounds. Of all of us, he’s the best at mental manipulation. Hands down, plus Rafael might be able to keep him alive if we send him over an edge that we can’t see.”

Michael breathes out, turning his gaze behind him to Dean with the other children. “Give us some room. The other angels will need to get here too.”

Dean backs up with the children in his arms. “Don’t you worry, kiddos. Your father is a fucking archangel, so are 3 of your uncles. We’ll find a fucking way.”

Michael’s eyes snap to his staring in shock at the hatred underneath Dean’s statement that show he’s willing to kill the next person that dares to hurt any of his family, even if that person happens to be god. He nods once. 

Azazel breaks away from Dean’s hold to curl up on the floor. “He wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t tried to reach for him.”

“If you hadn’t reached out, he’d probably already be dead or worse once God realized that he wasn’t going to get his way,” Dean replies. His voice remains calm, but inside he wants to start screaming. None of this is fair to them or to anyone, and this comes from the being that should be the protector of all. He kneels down with Dagon in his arms, so that his hand can rest on Azazel to keep him grounded.

Rafael appears in the room next, keeping his eyes on Lucifer. “Sam gave me the rundown, but if I’m going to do anything more, one of you needs to start explaining the more delicate portions of this spell. Normally, I’d check myself, but if I’m to try to keep him alive today, I shouldn’t try to put myself in his mind where I’d have multiple fears other than his death.”  
Michael stares for a moment, before realizing that Rafael was afraid that if this got much worse, that he might not be able to convince his grace that life was better than death, and they all know that in other universes they’ve made that choice before and will likely make it again.

Lucifer nods. “Of course. Right now, this looks like he’s been trapped in a violent false memory of a time when I lost control and tortured my children for talking back.”

Rafael barely pauses as he kneels down. “I need you to be completely honest with me Lucifer and know that I’m not trying to judge you. Is there any chance that this memory isn’t completely false?”

Dagon growls from her place in Dean’s arms. “No, there’s no chance. When we walked out, he didn’t stop us. He could have. He could have forced us to stay. We might be one of the most powerful creatures to exist, but we’re not good enough to fight off an archangel who wants to force us into following a certain pathway.”

Dean strokes her arm. “Sh, darling. He’s not trying to insult your father, he’s just gathering information to make sure that he doesn’t let Ramiel die. He hasn’t been around his brother for almost as long as you, and he needs to make sure that nothing is being left out of the story.”

“I don’t even know you.”

Dean shrugs. “Nope, but I married your father. I promised that his problems would be mine. That his past would always be a priority for us both. I knew he had children, and I accepted them. You walked back into this room, which makes you mine. Whether either of us know what to do with that or not.”

Gabriel appears in the room to glance at Dean’s speech. “Nice words, Dean.” Then, he turns to Lucifer and settles down on the bed, slipping into Ramiel’s mind without even bothering asking questions. 

All he sees is pain, blood, and Lucifer’s face. The memory has deteriorated into full panic. Probably part of his father’s plan because it’s harder to pretend a memory is true if it has full details that you don’t remember before this moment. He pulls back with his hands shaking. “Well, this is dad’s handiwork. I can try to unravel the strands, but I don’t know if I can. You need someone who’s skilled in the mental arts and has been close to him at some point.”

Dean purses his lips. “I’m guessing we don’t have that here right now.”

Lucifer shakes his head. “I’m the closest, but I’m actually terrible at the more delicate parts of mental manipulation. I can enter with permission, and I can hold the line against a spell like this, but I can’t stop the spell.”

Adam pushes the door to the room open as he caught the tail end of this. “Do what you can. Extend his life. Maybe, someone will take pity on us and help. We can’t even get Amara to fix this, because she’d need to go after God first, and he wouldn’t last long enough for that to fix the root of the problem.”

Gabriel nods. “The newest prince of hell is correct. We can get him stable enough to last the night and hope that something changes. Maybe, God wasn’t expecting us to try to save him and the spell wears off in a six hours.”

Rafael holds out his hands and steadies the heartbeat of the poor child as he jerks up. “You’ve got to lessen the cost of these memories. I’m keeping his heart as steady as I can, but his soul is trying to kill this vessel to get away.”

“And if he gets out, there’s no getting him back in one with how panicked he is. The reapers would have to claim him,” Lucifer adds.

Adam tunes out the angels because they’re discussing how best to go about stabilizing the demon. None of them could do much to help. “King Dean, your people need to hear from their king. They need to know what’s happening, and what they should be doing.”

Dean closes his eyes because he knows that this is true. He needs to stand up and force himself out of the door to make sure that the demons of hell know what the price of rebellion is, and how they’re all going to be rebelling. “I’ll leave to go talk to them when Sam or Jo gets here to sit with my kids, Adam. I won’t leave them here alone while their uncles and father have to try to save their brother.”

Adam bows. “Then, I will hold the court until you arrive. I will try to make sure that no one tries to attempt storming this room.”

Rafael holds his heartbeat out for the vessel in front of him to imitate. He can’t hold this for long, but for at least an hour the child will be safe just following the grace of an archangel. He knows that this will break any trust that God ever had in him, and he almost wants to laugh at the idea that God will be looking down and seeing all of his sons coming together to stop one of his tricks. He wonders whether that panic will be glorious or dumb.

Gabriel slips behind the shield that Lucifer has made to keep the memory and panic from spreading any further into the mind. He finds the ribbon holding the spell together quickly, but he realizes that God tied it around the memory so tightly that he can’t break the ribbon without breaking the mental capacities of Ramiel. He doesn’t know enough about the demon to rebuild the sanity back up once they’re done.

Instead, he casts seeds of doubt into the ribbon. Little pieces of but my father loves me. Even less pieces of but my siblings would have been right next to me. Why am I the only one suffering? That’s the best he can do, and the panic recedes slightly. Enough that Rafael can release his tight hold on the heartbeat.

That’s when the door opens for the rest of the family to enter. Minus Crowley and Ellen, who are who knows where. Probably out trying to save the last child of Lucifer, the one that would never come home. 

Dean pushes Azazel into Bobby’s open arms and Dagon into Jo’s. He wants to stay and draw comfort from his family coming when he calls. He wants to take the reassuring notion that they’ll be with him until the end of time, but that’s not what he needs to do. His husband needs to be the anchor for the family today, and he needs to be the anchor for the kingdom.

“Sammy, keep my children safe. Try to keep the angels from falling apart if they can’t hold on long enough. I have to go make sure that my kingdom doesn’t fall to shambles with everything happening,” Dean begs.

“Of course, Dean. I’ve also left Ellen a voicemail, which she should get since she’s on Earth. I told her what’s happening. I would expect to see her coming in a flash with righteous anger burning through her.”

Dean shakes his head. “We don’t have anyone here who can save him. Not truly. Azazel, would your other sister be able to save him?”

Azazel’s eyes filled to the brim with tears meet his. “If anyone could actually save him with where he is right now, it would be Abbadon, but she’s the one sibling who I wouldn’t count on to come if it meant anything. I only told Ellen, because she asked for all of them, because she offered to reach even if we both knew that they wouldn’t answer the call.”

Dean offers Azazel and Lucifer a smile once he notices that Lucifer’s eyes are on him as well. “I wouldn’t doubt family quite yet. If I could see anyone choosing to try to save us in this instance, it’d be Ellen, and that means that she’ll push a bit harder than what she normally would for Abbadon. Don’t try to alienate her if she does show up.”

Lucifer pauses to stand up next to Dean. “If you need me in court,” he begins before Dean cuts him off.

“No. Not this time. I’ll find a way to deal with your people today, because you need to be here fighting for your son’s life. Not dealing with the court of demons.” With that said Dean slips out of the room, pulling himself together as he goes.


	44. The Saving of a Child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellen goes to get Abbadon by being bolder than anyone has any right to be, but then they are actively trying to kill God, so there's a debate on whether this is the boldest action taken yet.

Ellen’s found most of Lucifer’s children by now. Two of them went flocking home, and one of them attempted to kill her. He should have known better than to assume that she’d be unprotected as the mother in law of the king of hell, or the mother of the king of hell depending on which one of them you were going to judge her on. 

Crowley hangs off her shoulder as they enter the bunker to where the portal to Oz was. That’s where Abbadon had been trapped, so that’s where they’ve got to be in order to try to talk to the crazy person. Even Crowley doesn’t want them to go there. He thinks she’s more likely to stab them in the back than to help them out when it comes down to the wire. 

Ellen feels the buzz in her pocket indicating that she has a voice mail. That doesn’t make much sense given almost all of their family is in hell, and they should be safe there. Even God wouldn’t dare to go up against all of the archangels in their domain without emptying heaven of its army first, and that would be something that all of them could see coming. He shouldn’t have an edge on them. 

She pulls out the phone and puts it on speaker so that Crowley could hear the message as well.

“Ellen, its Sam. Shit is going down. Ramiel has been trapped in some kind of mental spell that’s slowly causing him to die. Everyone is panicking and no one has a plan. Get home as soon as you can,” Sam calls out before the message goes silent. 

Ellen breathes in deeply. “Opinions?”

Crowley looks her dead in the eyes. “Do you want the truth or the part that might make you feel a little better about what I’m about to say with a straight face?”

“Lie to me, boy, and I’ll find a way to make you suffer.”

“Figured. The archangels don’t have a plan because despite all of their magic, they can’t easily go up against a spell of God’s. More than likely they can dismantle the spell itself, but they can’t bring Ramiel back from the madness that claimed him in the first place,” he explains.

“But there is someone who could?”

“Abbadon could. There’s no one else who knows the princes of hell enough, there’s no one else that could love him enough to know that has the magic for mental manipulation. Lucifer’s terrible at it. Azazel never trained in it because he sees using the mental way of attacking as the coward’s option. Dagon is mostly better at standing in protection, not healing and not offensive. Maybe I could, but I didn’t care about him when he was younger. I had bigger fish to catch at the time.”

Ellen nods and stares at the portal. “Could you help them hold on to Ramiel for a longer period of time?”

“I’d have to leave you here in order to even try, and Dean might actually kill me himself if I let you die.”

“No, he wouldn’t. Not today. Not when the other option is letting the children of his husband die. Go, I’ll give my all to making sure that Abbadon ends up coming back with me.”

Crowley hesitates before portaling to hell. She was right in the idea that he could do more good here than sitting waiting to see whether Ellen could convince the most unstable of Lucifer’s children to come home.

Ellen barely pauses before she opens the portal.

The rage that meets her as the demon forms all around her would normally cause Ellen to panic. Or at the very least back away from the entity showing that much form of anger. Instead, she swallows. “How much from Earth could you reach from Oz?”

Abbadon tilts her head at the little human standing in front of her. Nothing about this earth feels right, but she can’t tell what’s happening. She can tell that God is trying to give her some amount of information, but she’ll trust God when hell on earth happens. “Nothing.”

Ellen nods once briskly before turning around to grab the water bottle off the shelf and tossing it to the demon. “Would you mind if I caught you up to speed on certain things?”

“Why shouldn’t I just rip out your throat and feast on your memories while you lie dying on the ground?”

Ellen blinks. “I’ve never actually heard that comeback before, so points for creativity. But seriously, I’m not going to let you get yourself into that much trouble. Your father claims me as his mother by marriage now, and last time I checked you didn’t hate him enough to hurt him like that.”

Abbadon laughs. “That was a long time ago before he left me to rot. A timeout like that after mass murdering a bunch of humans was expected. Him leaving me alone for centuries wasn’t. I thought after the first fifty years, it was a normal punishment. After that I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to do to get him to forgive me.”

Ellen shakes her head gently. “You weren’t locked there for a punishment. You were locked there by humans, and while Lucifer could have gotten past the locks, he didn’t think that you wanted him to. The rest of your siblings other than Azazel broke off after he said that you’d want to handle the humans alone.”

Abbadon looks down. “I told him that, but I didn’t think he’d leave me. I didn’t think he’d actually let me suffer because I asked him to. I thought I was angry, and he was teaching me a lesson on never asking for what you don’t want.”

Ellen steps forward just barely to rest a hand on her arm. “And if you ask me to punch the angel for not realizing that as a trick of a child, I will. But I promise you, he thought he was doing what you wanted.”

“Why?”

“Because your brother, Azazel, asked me to come get his siblings home. Lucifer’s got his own set of problems, most of them to do with his own struggle with his father, but if he had known you wanted him to come get you, he would have been there.”

Abbadon pauses. “I thought he would be more angry if I prayed to him to get him to come before he wanted to come.”

Ellen snorts. “This whole family has a self-sacrificing kink larger than my arm.” 

Abbadon freezes before turning away from Ellen’s prying eyes. “I broke the family first, or well I convinced them that we should try to live our own lives without needing Lucifer’s constant monitoring.”

Ellen wishes without hesitation that for just once, this family didn’t have so many problems with actually parenting. Things would be so much easier if any of them had role models to base themselves on and not struggle. Lucifer did his best, but his best was not the greatest for the type of children that he has. “Honey, he would have been proud of you for that. The argument that you had was him being worried, and you being confident. If he had known you wanted him to come get you, he’d have been there. I can promise that.”

“Would you bet your life on it?”

“Yes,” Ellen answers. Then, she hesitates. “I need you to come home quickly.”

“Why? Shouldn’t I get my head on straight before I try to start a fight?”

“Honestly, if you want to start a fight with Lucifer right after we fix the problem, I will be right behind you dragging all the others back to watch this play out. But Ramiel is dying, and for some reason Crowley thinks you might be the only one who can save him, and I’m putting my money on no one being willing to step in front of you if you’re willing to save him even if some of them still don’t realize why this happened.”

“Who attacked Ramiel? No one is bold enough to attack the sons of Lucifer, not if they want their head to still be connected to their neck by the end of the day. Even being the problem child for a little while, Lucifer wouldn’t let anyone kill me if he had enough power to try to stop them.”

“God. God would be bold enough, and unfortunately chose to try.”

Abbadon lets out a deep sigh. “I will come with you, and I will try to save him. And if I find out that you lied to me at any point, I will rip out your throat and feast on your blood.”

“Wonderful,” Ellen says. She claps once and holds out an arm to Abbadon. Honestly, she should be worried about just how careless she was about the mass murderer threatening her, but she knows that at the end of everything she has Dean’s protection and by extension Lucifer’s. She holds this family together, and if her death is ever required to make sure that no one else falls into chaos or death, she’ll pay the price. 

Abbadon teleports them both straight to the room that Ellen pictures. She blinks in surprise as she sees a human holding two of her siblings together as they go pale. She turns to see the archangels, not just her father, but the rest, all crowding her brother trying to stabilize them. The demon called Crowley was there trying to patch up the mental wards too.

She kneels down next to her father, pushing away all of the conversations that she needs to have with him. She has plenty, and some involve his new husband as well. The bond smells sharp to her now that she’s close enough to her father to feel it. “Someone needs to pull that string. I can put him back together again.”

Gabriel pulls back to stare at her. “Are you sure? Because if you’re not, he’ll die one of the most horrible deaths for a demon or an angel, and I don’t want that on either of our hands.”

Abbadon nods. “Yes. I’ve done this before, not recently, but I’ve restored Asmodeus once or twice.”

“He’s pissed at us, sister,” Dagon murmurs.

“Point still stands. I can save him,” Abbadon replies, ignoring her sister. She doesn’t want to start the fight that she knows would be coming if she told them the truth, which is that if she’s angry at Lucifer, then Asmodeus is worse. He has no hesitation in his feelings. He’d love everyone with complete loyalty, and he’d hate them the same.

Gabriel rips the strand. He can’t hesitate anymore. That would destroy him and probably Ramiel.

Abbadon catches her brother as he slumps, and her mind slips into his. She pulls his mental shields back around him with her own providing a better barrier. She can feel the attack from God on her shield, but she offers no leeway. He can’t get in with all of his rage, not without shattering himself and her. 

Ramiel’s brain is a mess. The panic that had surrounded him had attacked every form of logic, so the first thing she targets is his memory. She patches the holes that God made with her memories. Not the perfect solution since hers would have her bias, but she’d let him know which ones she had to give him hers of in order to keep him from slowly dying a horrible death.

Next came his ability to hold his own body. She had to rebuild the connections from his demonic soul to the vessel that was holding him. The spell had ripped those away first, so that he couldn’t try to get help. Clearly God wasn’t planning on him having backup. That was foolish. He should know that Lucifer and his children were a family. Even if they were a broken one.

Slowly, she pulls back to see Ramiel holding her face in his hands. “My brother, it is good to see you alive and well.”

“All thanks to you, and the fact that you stood in front of him and forced him back. I could see that once you started rebuilding my mind. God tried to stop you.”

Abbadon laughs a cold and harsh sound. Something that would terrify souls and cause them to tremble in place. “God can’t break this family, no matter how hard he tries. Death is the only thing that can stop us and as long as we stand together, he won’t be given the chance.”

Lucifer drops a hand on her shoulder with a smile on his lips. “I’m glad you chose to come home then.”

Abbadon casts her eyes across the room to where Ellen was leaning up against the wall watching over all of them. “I’m not sure you can claim that I’m the one who came home. I think the truth is that someone else came to get me and wouldn’t have let me cower away from my family. I believe perhaps father, that you’ve expanded this family further and further, and now our only way forward is to take on God himself.”

“Bright. And correct,” Gabriel answers.

“We going to ignore the elephant in the room with Abbadon being here,” Bobby questions.

“That elephant belongs to her parents. Lucifer and Dean. No one else. Not even God could stop them from handling this,” Ellen replies her voice even. Her eyes never leave the doorway. She’d take the brunt of the first hit, and she knows that its coming long before any of them would wish for it to.


	45. The Orders of a King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean makes his first speech to the demons of hell alone. He announces a war, and the demons follow his command.

Dean walks the other direction with complete confidence. He has a message, and this time he has a plan to say exactly what he means nothing less and nothing more. The weight of his feet on the floor causes what’s left of the demons not in court to hurry to get there. None of them want to know why he’s the one coming and not Lucifer and then miss the direction.

Adam’s standing in front of the court when Dean arrives. He’s raising his hands up in the air and shouting that he wouldn’t be telling the people anything until one of the kings of hell arrived or they gave him direct permission to do the opposite of that. 

“Move,” Dean commands. The lines split so that he can cross over to the throne and send Adam back into the crowd. Every eye in the room follows him and a part of him wants to curl up into a ball under the scrutiny, but then Lucifer would have to drag himself away from his son in order to save his kingdom and that’s not happening either. 

“I’m sure you’re all wondering what’s happening and what the next plans are. I wish I could tell you good news. That something amazing has happened and we’re all going to be happy forever, but that’s not what happened tonight,” he begins.

The silence in the room weighs on him, but he won’t let himself pause now. There’s too much to do and too little time to do it. “Tonight, Ramiel, son of King Lucifer, was attacked by God. Doomed to die frightened of one of the few beings on this planet that he should have been able to trust. As we speak the archangels, princes and princesses of hell, and my family are trying to save Ramiel. They don’t want him to suffer, and we don’t want hm dead. He’s family after all, but that’s not why I’m standing here in front of you. I’m standing here in front of you, beside you, and with you to give a different message. Because one of ours has been attacked. Someone under the protection of hell may die tonight.”

“God attacked us, surely you aren’t claiming that we can beat God,” a demon calls out from the crowd. 

“I am telling you that God attacked us. I’m telling you that God didn’t even hesitate to attack us. He’s sat on his throne for too long. He thinks that he has the power to defeat anything and everything that could come after him, and he’s not wrong. He can defeat everything in this universe, but he can’t defeat all of us at once. So, instead of cowering or praying, fight. Help me place wards to shun God out of hell on every single stone. Help make sure that if he ever brings an army here, that ours is stronger. Train every day until your powers grow. Train until your legs burn, and you feel like you’re going to fall down. Instead of torturing the humans who have sinned, drag them to their feet and give them a choice. Join our army or be sent into the nothingness between life and death.”

Adam’s eyes meet his, and Dean knows that the shock in his brother’s eyes will echo across hell. Quite possibly for eternity. Dean’s not asking them to forsake their nature, he’s asking them to turn it on God. That’s bold enough, but then he’s also asking them to give up human souls or convert them into demons, and to do it as quickly as they possibly can. He’s asking for the impossible, and he’s making it seem like he thinks that it could be possible for them to achieve.

Dean’s eyes move across the room, full of demons who have no reason to trust him and even less reason to see this as anything more than a power move. “You don’t have to choose to fight. You don’t have to choose our rule. But let me be clear, the other option out there is God. And God’s never come for you. He wrote you off long before you were made, and he’s kept you here for longer.”

One of the demons slips out of the corner to stare at Dean, then kneels. “If my king says that God has attacks one of us, then I say we fight. Give us orders, my king. Split us into teams. We will defend the realm while you try to save the prince.”

Dean’s eyes glance around the room to make sure that all of the demons were in agreement, but no one moved other than to follow to their knees. No one runs. No one asks questions. Ruby no longer lives to torment him, and since the wedding, none of the others have dared to speak against him.

“I want all of the crossroad demons that are normally attempting to corrupt souls trying to work out a system to carve the protection runes in every room of hell. Every house, every wall, every single place that God could attempt to enter, you ward. I don’t know how long it will take to do that because I know that each carving takes some amount of your energy. Take breaks as needed but start with the areas that God would try harder to get into.”

“Heard,” a demon says. A portion of the court fades out of the room. Probably going to start Dean’s orders. None of them will hesitate to follow the order because their king was being frank with them. He wasn’t trying to save them from themselves. 

Dean gulps as he considers the demons who were working on the racks, before shaking his head. “Right, those of you who were working on the racks, torturing people, go to the victims you didn’t personally torture and make them the deal. If they take it, make them demons. Rip their souls into the darkness. Don’t offer any hesitation. None will be offered if God gets a hold on you, so none will be given to those we need.”

He can tell that this might be the least Dean Winchester that he’s ever been. He’s willingly telling demons to corrupt human souls to make them into demons. He’s not even asking, he’s ordering. The fear overwhelms him for a moment before the darkness comes out from his mark and wraps around him. No action can be evil if he’s trying to save them from a greater evil. Even if that greater evil happens to be a bit overpowered. 

His back straightens out as he stares at the remaining demons. He could give them any number of orders. He could give them thousands. “All the rest of you. Get weapons, get training. Make sure that your bodies know its limits, and then push those limits to the sidelines and force yourself to be better than the day before. Once the others are done, train with them. Get them to the same level then test yourselves against them. We’ll all end up in the training rooms at different points once we get through this night.”

As the demons start leaving, Dean catches one by the arm. “I need a volunteer to do something crazier than anything I’ve asked of any of the others.”

“Whatever you command, my king.”

Dean wants to cuss that they should care more about their own fates than just listening to a king, but he’s also realizing slowly that this is the way that they were going to get through this. Blind loyalty isn’t what they had, but once people had that loyalty there would be no shaking it. “I need you to go to Earth where God is almost definitely looking for you. I need you to find Cain and ask him whether he’s willing to train the armies of hell to fight against God himself. I need you to tell him that Dean Winchester doesn’t plan on doing this again. He plans on ending this one way or another.”

“My king? Cain has not graced these halls since he fell in love all of those years ago. I would be surprised if he came now.”

Dean remembers the haunted look on Cain’s face as he realized that this universe was one of the ones where they were willing to lie to Cain’s face in order to lie to God. He remembers the way that Cain hates them for the number of universes that have gone by with no solution. And he knows that they’ve never once given him the chance to be anything but a bystander. “Try anyway, I’m sure before the wedding you would have said it would be impossible for Lucifer to fall in love with a human.”

A bow, and the demon walks out.

Dean should care more about the fact that he’s asking for the impossible, but honestly, he’s more worried about what happens in the limited time compared to the future. His eyes carry over the room to make sure that none of the demons are left. That no one feels like the orders were meant for others but not them. 

Adam steps up next to him with a nod. “Well said. I have one question for you though.”

“Ask.”

“Should we put out a call for the angels who wish to be on a different side of this battle to get to hell now before our wards close in?”

“Too easy to sneak an army in. We can’t risk our people to save those who may or may not want to be saved. More importantly, I have a follow up plan for any of God’s army that doesn’t actually want to be on that side, but before I can do that, I’d need God to make his first move.”

Adam cocks his head to the side to stare at Dean. “What happened to the man that you once were?”

“His kid is dying, his husband’s got enough guilt to level a city, his mind gets messages from God’s sister, and his family is at war,” Dean replies wryly. Then, he takes off down the hall towards the room.

Both of them slip in and when Dean sees that Ramiel’s eyes are open and at least slightly aware, he lets out a deep breath. “I’m glad we got you back.”

Lucifer’s arm curls around Abbadon keeping her from fleeing as he turns to his husband. “My oldest daughter decided to come by to help out.”

Dean notices the stance of half the people in the room, followed by the protective stance of most of the demons in the room and closes his eyes. Of course, he was asking for too much when he asked them to manage to save one of them without causing any further problems. “You planning on telling me my newest daughter’s name or do I need to play a guessing game, love?”

Abbadon relaxes into her father’s embrace with his words. He didn’t immediately take the rest of the stance into consideration, he’s willing to listen to them first. “Abbadon.”

“A wonderful name.”

Bobby glances up at Dean to see whether or not this was all a play, and he couldn’t read Dean’s face at all. He couldn’t figure out what exactly the play was that Dean was trying to go based off of. Honestly, it reminds him more of chaos than anything else. “She’s the demon who sent most of the hunters from a couple generations ago to death’s embrace.”

Dean blinks. “Cool. And my husband is the ruler of hell, creator of the punishment system, and father of demons. My other kids include my mother’s murderer and various other demons. My brother in laws were the ones to start the justice system of God and the initiator of pranks. We’ve all got pasts here that we aren’t proud of. We’ve kind of agreed that it matters more what we’re wiling to do now, than what we did in the past.”

Ellen shrugs. “I told her that it would be up to you and Lucifer what would happen after that.”

Dean cusses under his breath as he realizes what Ellen is saying. She’s pretty much told him to go talk to his daughter in private in order to make sure that everyone knows that this has been addressed and a solution has been found. 

Sam stares over at Abbadon before turning back to Dean. “Your choice. We can do this as a full family if you want.”

Lucifer can feel the firm tension that immediately comes over his daughter, and he shakes his head to Dean. He could probably announce that as a bad idea on his own, but Dean had taken control of this situation. 

Dean nods in understanding to Lucifer. “Cool. I guess we’re going to have a family meeting, which is going to happen in our quarters. Before I come up with any further plans regarding any and all of this, do any of the other children need to have a heart to heart that hasn’t already happened?”

Dagon hesitates from where she’s been in the corner since Sam let her go when Ramiel had woken up. “I don’t want to leave.”

“Leave hell or leave this room? Because I’m going to force you out of this room, so that I can handle whatever happens to be happening with Abbadon. Hell is your home and where your family is. I’d prefer if you didn’t let anyone, even God, kick you out.”

“I meant hell. Father, would my room still be intact?”

Lucifer nods.

“Dagon, do me a favor and take Ramiel with you. I don’t want him sleeping alone or resting alone for the next little while so that hopefully the spell can’t cause a relapse or if nightmares reoccur from the memories of the spell happen, he doesn’t wake up alone,” Dean asks.

She crosses the room in short order and takes her little brother into her arms. Azazel comes to her other side and grasps her arm in order to lead her out of the room. 

Lucifer stares at the rest of everyone. “Leave. All of you.”

Dean sighs. “Crowley, since the princes are predisposed trying to take care of each other, make sure that my orders are being followed. If Cain shows up, come get me.”

Slowly, the rest of the family filters out of the room until all that’s left is Ellen. Ellen meets Abbadon’s eyes with clear determination. “You can still say the word, if you need me.”

Abbadon shakes her head. “I’d rather have this conversation alone, if you don’t mind. Sorry for threatening you, I really didn’t see it coming that you were a mother figure to Lucifer.”

“Not a problem. I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to try to come get you kids.” Ellen walks out of the door with a slight brush against Dean’s arm.


	46. The Daughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean has a heart to heart with Abbadon and gets really angry with Lucifer. Lucifer admits to wrong-doing, and new plans are made.

Dean waits until all three of them are alone in the room before crossing over to the bed and dropping down. He can still keep his eyes on both of them curled up on the floor. “Hi, Abbadon. Sorry that you had to come home for such dire circumstances, not because you were ready to try to forgive the family that wronged you or build bridges that you burned. I don’t really know which one of those is more accurate.”

“Hi, Dean. Sorry you married into a mess of a family that has kids in every quarter of the definition of the term evil.”

“Why do you think you’re evil?”

“I killed people. I killed people because I was upset, and I wanted to prove that I could handle myself without Lucifer’s help.”

Dean closes his eyes for a moment because that was far closer to evil than any of the other children, but at the same time he kind of needs the more proper evil or he was going to question all human myths. “Why’d you go after the hunters?”

“They were going after our people. They wanted to hurt demons. The easiest way to prove that I had the right to rule as a princess without Dad’s direct interference would be to proof that I could do that on my own.”

“Not evil then. Maybe starting a war, but given I’m doing that to God right now, I can’t judge you for that,” Dean drawls. His eyes turn to Lucifer with a smirk on his lips. “I don’t know what your father wants to do. I don’t know why you still seem very nervous when it comes down to looking him in the face as we’ve discussed this, but as far as I’m concerned, you’re not evil. I forgive you.”

Abbadon trembles where she sits, because the human wasn’t supposed to be the one that she didn’t need to fight for forgiveness from. That means that she’ll have to grovel for Lucifer’s support. She has to grovel for her father. She just wants to be loved, she just wants to go home and have it be home again. She doesn’t know when the tears start streaming down her face, but she knows that the next time she looks up, Lucifer is still on the floor, but she’s on the bed with Dean’s arms around her.

Dean has a glare focused straight on Lucifer. He may not know the whole story, but the very idea of him forgiving her caused her to start crying which tells him that this wasn’t exactly a healthy home life, and since Lucifer had the same type of childhood, he wouldn’t have thought any of his children would be this broken. “You’re safe. You’re home. I won’t let anyone come and take you,” he promises.

“You can’t stop father. If he decides that I haven’t suffered enough, he’ll throw me back there, and I’ll suffer more. I can’t.”

Lucifer moves finally to come right up next to her with his hands pressed against her cheeks. “No, no, no, my daughter. I have never once left you to suffer. If I had to punish you, we did it immediately. I would never just claim that you have to suffer more to earn forgiveness. I’m not throwing you out.” His eyes were wide, and he’s pleading with Dean with his eyes to believe him. He’d never hurt his children like that. He wouldn’t be his father. He’d be more wiling to jump off a cliff. 

Dean lets out a breath as he starts to put the pieces together. From Dagon’s comments of all things. “Sweetheart, tell me what you and Lucifer fought about before you left. Before you panic, remember that you can’t say anything that will make me upset right now. You’ve already earned my forgiveness for all of this.”

“I wanted to be able to make my own decisions. I didn’t want to have to rely on him to save me from my own actions. I yelled at him to let me do this alone,” she sobs.

Lucifer gets a baffled look on his face as he stares at his daughter. The fight happened pretty much exactly like that, with him being a concerned father, not wanting her to get hurt. “Which I did. I let you leave, and I let you do your own thing.”

Dean moves his hand up and down her arm while staring at Lucifer. He can’t easily put the pieces together right now, and he has a gut feeling that these two demons have two very different versions of what happened. Right now, he needs Abbadon to open up. “Alright. What happened when you went after the hunters?”

“I killed most of them. I destroyed the threat just like I intended, but then one of them trapped me in Oz. He locked the only portal on this realm, and I couldn’t leave. Dean, I was stuck there with no way out. I couldn’t come home, I couldn’t go to my brothers or my sister. I couldn’t say sorry for yelling.”

Dean glares at Lucifer to make sure that he wasn’t going to speak yet. He’d have his turn to respond, and more than likely fall over himself to apologize to the daughter who was clearly hurting because of the choices that he made. “That would have been hard.”

“I figured that dad would have been following the situation still, just in case it went tossy-turvy even if he had agreed to let me try alone, I thought he’d be on the lookout in case I failed. I failed. I fell hard, and I hit my ass, and I thought my father would be there to help me stand up.”

“At first I thought he hadn’t figured out that I was in trouble yet, then I thought that maybe he was teaching me a lesson on why it would be a better idea to just let him help out, then I thought it was a punishment for fighting. I was alone. I was alone until Ellen came to get me, and she said that it wasn’t because father asked her to come there to get me, it was because Azazel asked her to come get me.”

Dean’s arms tighten around her. Her trembles still rock the bed, but he can’t bring himself to care. He keeps her grounded in this world. “It wasn’t any of that. I can promise you that no matter how bad it seemed then, none of those were true. I’m not going to let your father talk until you tell me you understand that this wasn’t your fault, that none of this was to hurt you.”

Lucifer opens his mouth, and Dean kicks him straight in the chest. The shock in Lucifer’s eyes doesn’t even raise guilt in Dean. Right now, Dean’s priority cannot be Lucifer because they had children, and the children came first.

“Ellen said that too.”

“She’s a smart woman. Helped me get through life without a mother and came down here to deal with this crazy person. Makes her the best of all of us, doesn’t it?”

Abbadon nods. “Dean, if it wasn’t my fault, why did I have to stay there?”

“A good question. Maybe your father could shed some light on the matter.”

Lucifer buries his face in his hands for a second before picking his head up. “I’m starting to think I understand why Ramiel stopped talking to me, why Asmodeus isn’t going to come home, and why Dagon was so hesitant?”

“And why Azazel was so formal for so long,” Dean adds. He wants to make sure that Lucifer doesn’t try to sweep this under a rug and claim that all of this was normal. He wasn’t going to let Lucifer just brush this under the covers and act like this didn’t affect his entire family.

“And that. Honey, I thought I was following your request. I thought that you would want to prove that you could get yourself back out of danger. I thought that you were fighting to get yourself out, and I told myself that if it changed, you’d call out for me in prayer like I taught all of you,” Lucifer explains. His voice breaking as he reaches out.

Abbadon leans into his touch, but keeps Dean with her. “I thought you’d be angry if I prayed for help right after the fight about me being upset that you had that backup for us. I thought you’d lock me in there longer if I dared to pray.”

Lucifer’s arms close around her and drag her further into him. “Never. Never. I thought all of you knew that, but I’ll say it a thousand times now to make up for what happened before. If you call me to come save you, I will never punish you for that. I might still punish you for your actions that happened before you put yourself in danger, but never for calling. You could call me at any time, and I wouldn’t hesitate.”

Abbadon sobs into his arms as she realizes that she had been trapped by her own fear, not in punishment.

Dean leans up and starts stroking her hair. “Shh. Shh. You’re alight. You’re home now, and I won’t make anyone leave ever again. I’ll make sure that you all know you can pray to Lucifer for help or me. I’ll show up for any of you.”

“You already have,” she whispers.

“Maybe. Tell you what, stay here in Lucifer’s arms, and I’ll tell you the story of what’s happening now.”

Abbadon gets herself comfortable as Lucifer stays on the ground. A self-punishment for daring to assume that his child wanted to be somewhere trapped by her own decisions. A mistake that he has no doubt while he’s been forgiven by his daughter, his husband might still drag him over the coals for.

Dean smiles at them both, sending with his eyes that while he’s not happy with Lucifer in the moment, he still loves him, and he still loves his children. None of that was ever in question. “The beginning of the end is what I am now calling what we’re doing now. Lucifer looked into the future, and the path that all of us were on was terrible. Most of us ended up dead or broken. There was no family, and there was no trust among anyone. He chose to try to form a different path. He chose to ask me to marry him. Crazy, right?”

Lucifer hesitates before leaning down to whisper to her conspiratorially. “Absolutely the most mad decision I’ve ever made. Also the best one I’ve ever made.” 

“I can tell,” she whispers back.

Dean raises his eyebrows up and down in a slight joke over the love life that he’s created now that they’ve gone down that path. “Right. So then, we were talking about the fact that in order to change the end of the story that we had to disrupt God’s plan. So pretty much, we got together by trying to overthrow God. Seriously, I can’t make this shit up. I convinced him that we’d have a better shot if we convinced God this was a love marriage not a move to overthrow his grand plan. So we invited the whole family, well Lucifer’s brothers and my whole family.”

“But none of the children?”

“I hadn’t told him about you guys yet. Afterall, the one child I was able to talk easily had killed his mother. I didn’t want to frighten him away before I even got him to marry me.”

Dean rolls his eyes. “Correct. So, flash forward through the wedding and falling in love because you’re his kid, you don’t need the details.”

“I don’t know, you could make a movie out of it.” She pauses trying to find the correct term before just adding his name to the end. 

“Azazel calls me papa, you are welcome to the same name if you wish.”

“Thank you, papa.”

Lucifer grins over at Dean. He knows that he still has his own apologies to make to Dean for making him have to be the bridge between him and his children. That wasn’t the job that he should have had to sign up for with his children.

“Then, we built a family, and we decided that not only are we going to fight God. We’re going to take him down. His plan is rude, his parenting is trash, and his morals are crap. So, I got turned into the being holding the mark of Cain, and we’re debating when we need to stage a jailbreak for God’s sister.”

Abbadon grins. “We’ll tear him down. I’m good at fighting. Just point me at the new target, and I’ll tear them to pieces.” She picks herself up. “Is it alright, if I want to rest alone before I go to court and start helping with the plan?”

“Of course. I’ll make sure no one bothers you unless you go to them,” Lucifer answers. 

Abbadon glances at Dean for confirmation before she leaves the room. The hesitance clear on her face when just Lucifer’s words were at stake.

Once, Abbadon has left the room, Dean lets his fist fly and knock straight into Lucifer’s face. “I swear to everything that we are and everything we ever will that if you hurt your children like that again, I will not forgive you, and I’ll get them the hell away from you.”

Lucifer accepts the punch, rolling with the strength of Dean’s new found powers. The pain won't last long, and the anger needs an outlet, especially as once again Dean was in charge of helping make sure his past mistakes don't hurt them in the long run. “I know. Trust me, if I had known that she was hurting I would have gone after her no matter what the consequences might have been.”

Dean heaves a sigh. “One of the other reasons why I end up forgiving you for this. Will you be able to run the court long enough for me to actually catch some sleep today?”

Lucifer leans down and brushes a kiss against his cheek. The pain of the punch already gone. Dean hadn’t used nearly enough strength to make it stick like he had with the spanking earlier. That’s one of the many ways he knows they’ll be okay. “Sleep, love. I’ll make sure the world doesn’t burn.”


	47. The Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer and Ellen have a heart to heart then a lot of them end up in a training room so God won't wipe them out as easily.

Lucifer pauses to make sure that Dean’s asleep before he heads out of the room. He doesn’t need to double check what Dean did with the subjects of hell, he trusts his husband’s decision on these things, but he does need to go find Ellen. 

He knows he shouldn’t be surprised when he sees her leaning against the wall near their bedroom. Far enough away that she wouldn’t have heard any of the conversation, but close enough that she’d be there when any of them came looking for her. 

“You convince your daughter to give you another chance, preferably not to forget to double check where she was for a solid almost hundred years?” Ellen asks.

“Yeah. Dean punched me for that one once she left. Not that I blame him.”

“Normally I wouldn’t condone violence, but if he hadn’t, I would have. You almost broke her the same way God broke all of you.”

Lucifer nods. “No one gives you a guide on how to raise children, and I tried my best. I truly thought this is what she wanted, because I truly thought that all of them knew that they could reach out to me at any point and ask for help, and I’d be there.”

Ellen shakes her head softly. “You did convince them of that, but you forgot to make sure they knew that reaching wouldn’t end in punishment. She knew she could call for you, and she chose not to because she thought it would make your anger worse.”

“Forgive me?”

Ellen shrugs. “Not up to me, but since you’ve earned her forgiveness, you can have mine. We’re trying to rebuild this family, so you get a second chance to be a father just as much as your brothers get another chance to be your brothers. You just needed a push to see it, or Dean to give Azazel the bravery to push for it.”

Lucifer smiles up at Ellen. “My better half.”

“That’s my kid. I don’t care if Mary and John ever come back. Those boys are mine and Bobby’s. Jo’s mine too, but I don’t think Bobby claims her.”

Lucifer snorts. “If they even tried, I’m pretty sure Dean would lunge after them. Neither one of them were the parents those boys deserved. Maybe I’m not the parent mine deserved either, but at least I’m still trying. Both of them chose to leave long before that point.”

Ellen pats him on the shoulder. “That’s why I brought your kids home.”

Lucifer grins and keeps walking. He’ll go down to his people or at least the ones in the training room, and he’ll fight. He’ll train and get dirty with the best of them.

Ellen trails behind him, her body the posture of being just fine following Lucifer into a battle landscape. Her arms fall down to her sides, but she knocks on a door as they head by on their way.

Lucifer debates asking what Ellen’s plan is, but he doesn’t really want to push her. Also, the people of hell should see the humans in their realm as citizens just as much as them and showing up for training would help. 

Jo slips out of the room to fall in line. She slips her mom a duffel bag, while another is thrown over her shoulder. “Figured since I’m one of the few people that neither God nor his sister think about immediately, I’d be the best one to slip up to Earth to get our normal weapons. Don’t figure that things made for demons would be great for humans to hold and fight with. Same goes for angelic weapons,” she explains. 

Lucifer’s eyes widen as he takes in those words. “Smart.”

Jo chuckles. “I brought the weapons for everyone, even Dean, but he’s not exactly human anymore.”

Lucifer shrugs as he leads them to the training room. “He’s not human, and he’s not inhuman. He’s something that exists in the in between until Amara chooses what to do with the man that was holding her prison in place.”

“You have many reasons to be frightened of her,” Jo murmurs. Then, she reaches out and pulls him into a loose embrace. “But you don’t have to worry about handling the consequences alone. We all agreed, and we’re all still here. You tell me that you need me to commit violent crimes, I’m going to ask who and what, not why. That’s family for you. I might judge you, but I’ll never leave.”

“That count for disgruntled children who ran away instead of telling their father their fears,” Dagon asks quietly, stepping out from the shadows.

Jo slips back and instead of turning to Lucifer tucks her arm into Dagon’s. “Of course, it does. Family doesn’t stop because of mistakes, unless you don’t try to make up for your mistakes.”

“I don’t know how,” she warns.

Jo’s eyes flash. “Well we’re going to go train to show the demons that all of us are going to be putting in the same time. Mom was going to go through a workout, and Lucifer’s doing whatever it is, he does. But I was going to see if a demon would show me how to take down something that a human shouldn’t be capable of taking down, help me.”

Dagon blinks in surprise. “You want me to spar with you and give you tips to take me down?”

“I figure that if I can take down one of the princesses of hell, I can take down a regular angel,” Jo replies.

Lucifer chuckles. “She’s telling you the truth, Dagon. This may well be the future that we’re leading ourselves towards. You’re welcome to tell her no.”

Dagon shoots Lucifer a glare. She knows not to be forced into saying yes. That was like day two of lessons with Lucifer on how not to end up suffering. “Alright, Jo Harvelle. Let’s train you to take down a demon.”

Jo follows after her as she kicks open the door. 

The demons all working together for training freeze as the princess walks through the doors. 

Dagon’s eyes are hard and her posture straight. “We’re not here to stop you, we’re training too. Get back to work,” she commands.

Slowly, the demons get back to training. Some are working with hand to hand combat on sparring mats, some are practicing form and technique with various weapons, and some are even practicing magical skill. 

Dagon covers Jo’s hand on her arm with her free hand and walks towards a free sparring mat. If she was in the position that Jo was in right now, she’d be terrified, so it makes sense to her to give some level of comfort.

Jo smiles at the touch of the demon. Clearly, she wishes to try to be more close to the family than what she had been before everything had happened. And this seems like a reasonable first step. Her tension drains as she realizes that even the demon on demon fights weren’t going to insane.

Lucifer enters behind the group, but he doesn’t pay any attention to whether his entrance gains stares. If they wish to defy the orders of one of the princesses in order to stare at him that was their choice, but they shouldn’t be surprised if Dagon makes sure that they regret it long before the evening is over. He heads over to where the magic users were practicing on expanding their powers.

His long life has given him some benefits most readily the fact that he’s far more equipped than the average demon or angel when it comes to weaponry and base strength. He should work on them at some point to try to get them up to speed with God, but he’s not sure if training himself until he hits the ground will even bring him close to up to speed or whether it will just make God expend more than negative amounts of effort. 

His mind relaxes as he starts working on one of the few magical strengths that he’s struggled in the past. Mental powers. With this many demons in one room, he can easily slip in and out of minds the same way that Gabriel does on a daily basis, and he can work on his own ability to handle the influx of thoughts. That’s where Gabriel had always suggested starting if him or Michael were planning on continuing down a path similar to this. 

Ellen walks over to where the weights were and set out to do an endurance session today. Endurance first day of the week, three days for brute strength with her pushing her limits in arms, legs, and back, then three days to spar and work with weapons. A decent schedule to keep herself to, and she’s pretty confident that Sam and Bobby will join her in a definite schedule. Her daughter and Dean were another story all together, primarily because one of them no longer works on strength like a regular human, and because one of them defies rules simply because they offend her by existing. 

The weights go on a comfortable setting, that way she can test how long she can go on each. She can do 4 sets of 20 reps with the weights from all types first. Then, she can switch off to do some running to make sure that her lungs stay up to shape while the rest of her starts working to form a better system for attack. 

Jo steps back from Dagon to take up the far side of the sparring mat. “Should we start with hand to hand or should we start with weapons?”

“Personally, I feel as though hand to hand is a better option for making sure that neither of us get hurt for the first round while we gauge each other’s fighting style on the off chance that one of us is not what the other expects?”

“You mean in case just being human isn’t as much of a deal breaker as what has been told.”

“No,” Dagon replies. “I mean in case you happen to fight primarily with your firsts, right now I think you primarily focus your attacks in non-weapon combat with your legs where you can get more strength.”

Lucifer dips into minds and realizes that most of the demons, while still training were focused on the spar match being set up between a human and a princess of hell. He doesn’t doubt that his daughter has a plan to wipe the floor with the human until she can land a proper hit.

Dagon can feel her father’s presence on the back of her neck, spreading his magic around the room. Her thoughts clear for a moment to give him a definite design. She’s not going to wipe the floor with the human, she’s going to train the human to be able to take her down in a full fledge spar. But first she needs to know what she’s working with. Even she can’t perform miracles and train someone without knowing anything about their fighting style. 

Jo plants her feet at a wider angle. The best bet she had against a demon at least twenty times stronger than her was to be quicker than the demon. She’s not sure she’s got enough juice to manage that either, but there’s a small chance, and she’ll take that. “Do you guys have rules during sparring?”

Dagon shrugs. “Kind of. We agree nothing lethal unless it’s a duel. Nothing that can’t be healed within an hour. You back off when your partner yields,” she announces. Her voice louder than just Jo needed to hear, but it didn’t hurt to remind the demons, since some of the newly turned humans were about to arrive and sometimes some of the dicks of demon kind try some kind of bullshit.

Jo grins over at Dagon. “So, pretty much as long as I know you or King Lucifer can heal it, I’m fine.”

Lucifer can’t contain his chuckle from all the way over with the magicians at her comment. She would include him on her list, since he was present, because she was family. They’d make something out of this, if even the human who has the most reason to shy away and hide behind her mother makes a point of bringing him into the family.

“Damn right.” Dagon puts herself into a defensive position. For now, she’ll stick on defense and not switch over to aggressive, until the girl can take her down from a passive mode anyway. She doesn’t want to break her. She waves her hand for Jo to come at her.

Jo takes in the defensive positioning that Dagon placed herself in. She judges for weaknesses, but she can’t find any. That means that going for the joints to take that body part down for the moment, or going for something that causes the most pain might be her best bet of making sure that Dagon goes down. 

She stalks forward keeping her footwork at a decent position to turn and spin off her own leg to get to the other direction on the off chance that she needs help getting away. Nevertheless, she throws a punch towards Dagon’s face.

The block to her arm that twists her, doesn’t take her by surprise. Instead she rolls with the twist in her arm, taking herself to the ground. She lands on the arm not held by Dagon, with one leg pushing herself up, and the other foot lashing out.

The kick lands straight into the joint of Dagon’s right knee, and down the demon comes. Jo gets her own leg out of the way and pushes off from both her arm and her leg. She pins Dagon’s arm that still connects to her over Dagon’s neck with as much strength as she can manage.

Dagon could still push her off and continue the fight, but given that in a fight, Jo would have a knife that would be embedded in her neck. “Good attack. Why’d you give me an opening though?”

Jo pushes back off towards the back of the sparring mat. “As long as I can anticipate the most likely response to an attack, then I can base a better attack off a failed one. It tends to throw people off guard.”

Dagon picks herself up by pushing her body off the ground in a decent lunge. This time she wraps her arm around Jo and pulls her into a crushing hold. She’s not sure whether the human can be smart on her feet. Time for another test, no matter how many eyes have found them and stopped doing their own training.

Jo feels the hard arms trap her in an embrace. As per the rules, she could yell that she surrenders, and she’d be free, but that’s not what the point of doing this. She lets her body go limp, then slams all of that tension to her head and smashes it into the demon’s neck, while stamping one leg down on the foot. Barely, enough force to stun Dagon, but enough to loosen the grip for her to spin in the grip.

Dagon grins as she notices the new options for attacks. One arm is more than enough to trap the human, and her hand slips into the hair to pull her neck out to force her at an awkward angle. The position more vulnerable for the human.

Jo lets the pain wash over her. Barely, a single thought in her head over this problem. She still got herself into a better position for her arms. She crosses them, and Dagon does nothing. She pushes out one hand breaking the hold on her torso, her other hand slamming up into the arm holding her head. 

The crack of bones causes a scream to echo from the mat, but Jo doesn’t fall down with the pain. She immediately kicks Dagon in the chest to send her backwards, before falling back into a defensive position. Her fingers aching from the definite fractures that split them all. 

Dagon licks her lips. “I surrender,” she whispers.

Jo blinks. 

Dagon shrugs. “If this was a fight to the death and not a spar, you’d have hit me with enough lethal shots right then, that I’d be on the ground dead.” Then, she reaches for Jo’s hand and spreads the magic around it to reform the bones. 

From, then on. The two of them trained different attacks. Jo showed Dagon how to break a hold even if what was holding her happened to be on the same par, and Dagon showed Jo how to throw the full strength of a human without hurting herself. More than enough strength to take down a demon as long as you had something that could be used to kill them. 

Lucifer laughs as he sees the grudging respect growing in both of them. By the end of the week, he expects they’ll be best friends. He never thought they’d have a family that spread across angels, demons and humans. Let alone friendships and love growing among them. This is insanity in its best form. 

The spar between the demon and human continue as more demons pour into the room. Poor fools who have become soldiers for a war, they never knew was being fought. Now, they’d train. Lucifer didn’t allow himself to come up from his thoughts, or others. He focused on staying in the mental field rather than pulling out as he normally would.

Dagon had Jo pinned when she heard the faint surrender from the corner. Then, she heard the kick land straight into the ribs. Her arm falls from Jo’s neck as she debates what to do.

Jo’s hand squeezes her arm once. She grips the knife sticking out of her bag, ready to go the second that Dagon tells her to.

Dagon lunges over the demon and grabs his hand before he can pull off another strike. Her eyes blazing with a fire that could easily burn the world. She twists until the demon is panting from the pain. “I remember telling this whole room the rules of demonic sparring and training. For the sake of your survival, let’s hope you remember them.”

The demon glowers but dutifully repeats them back to her. He goes silent for a moment. “Those rules don’t apply for humans or the newly turned.”

Dagon throws him into the wall and pins him there with her magic. “I’m sorry. Did you fail to notice that I, a princess of this realm, was also fighting a human? Or perhaps were you to dull to understand the command in my voice earlier?”

“You do not issue commands here, princess. You haven’t stood in court since the beginning of the century. You do not have the right.”

Dagon lets out a breath of air. She didn’t see that coming. She hadn’t even thought about the possible anger at her being gone for so long. “Fine. Perhaps, you’re correct. I don’t have much power. Jo, go get King Dean.”

Jo almost questions the order since Lucifer is right there. Then, she sees his eyes. He was inside the heads of all of the demons. He wouldn’t come up without definite provocation or his daughter calling to him. She was going to force this demon to acknowledge humans tonight.

“No need, little human. We have a king here in this room. He can either confirm or deny his daughter’s orders.”

Dagon’s eyes flash a deep red color. “No, he can’t. This isn’t his call. This isn’t his order. It is mine, and it is King Dean’s. We will train every single demon under this realm. No matter what they were before this.”

The demon flinches under her stare. “But, they’re not our people.”

“Well God abandoned them, and we’ve got all the angels with power. So, tell me whose they are if not King Dean’s. If not the queen mother, Ellen’s. Tell me who claims them if they don’t.”

Ellen turns to stare at Dagon. She isn’t the queen mother by any true sense of the word, but the words coming from the demon tell her that this isn’t a bluff.

Dagon ignores the stares following her. “No answer. For once you show an ounce of intelligence. You will listen to my orders, yes?”

No one moves in the room all waiting for someone to make the first move. 

Jo hesitates before gliding down to her knees. “Yes. I will listen to the orders of my kings children. I will be a citizen of this realm; my humanity doesn’t matter.”

Slowly, the demons follow her to their knees.

Dagon turns her eyes to the demon pinned to the wall. “You can wait for Dean to wake in the morning before we deal with you. I will be sure to account your errors to him, then. Unless of course, you wish for Jo to wake him from his sleep once more tonight.”

He shakes his head.

Dagon releases him and stalks out of the room. 

Jo heaves her bag up over her shoulder and goes after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry there was no chapter last week. I got sick and between that and all the shutdowns for Covid-19, I wasn't able to get a chapter up.


	48. The Guard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dagon makes plans, and the people of hell remember that there is another realm out there that God could target to get them out of their protection.

Jo follows Dagon into her room, barely skipping steps. She knows that Ramiel and Azazel are safe in Ramiel’s room, so no one was going to bother them here. Well, she supposes they could, but they shouldn’t if they want to keep their heads on their neck. If Dagon was on edge before this, she was thirty seconds from breaking down now, and as of what’s happening right now, Jo will follow her.

Dagon barely looks up. Her eyes trained on the wall. She just bet her sanity and safety on a human she’d met earlier this night. The tremors shake through her body as she tries to patch up her walls.

“I might be a measly human, but I might be able to help,” Jo murmurs. 

“Can you reverse time to where I didn’t just bet everything on a king and father that I’ve only known for maybe 12 hours?”

Jo blinks. “Did you really place that much faith on Dean?”

“Jo, if Dean doesn’t back my play in court tomorrow, or if he backs my play but criticizes my decision to speak for him, or if he even remotely looks shocked, the demons are going to be out for my blood. They’ll probably demand the right to torture me for my ignorance, and because I didn’t call on Lucifer to save me, they’ll probably get what they want because even Lucifer can’t flat out deny a claim like that without threatening the entire realm.”

“Cool. Nothing we need to worry about then.”

Dagon lunges and wraps a hand around Jo’s neck. She doesn’t need someone trying to make light of a situation as delicate as this, as if she doesn’t understand her own people.

Jo rolls her eyes. The hand around her neck should probably bring her more fear, but she’s been fighting this demon for most of the night. She could get herself out of this if she needs to, but she’s hoping not to have to. “We have nothing to worry about. The king you just bet everything on, he’s my brother. He’ll back your play. He won’t let you fall, even if they try to demand anything Dean will find a way to turn it around. Do you know why?”

“No, because if this was anyone else, I should be punished. I just bet on something that I had no idea was true or not. I made a leap, and I should suffer for it.”

“No, you shouldn’t. You are a princess of hell. You rule this realm along side your father’s. Your word is law unless it contradicts them. And Dean is your father. He’ll never let you fall.”

Dagon relaxes her grip, but still hesitates. “I don’t understand.”

“I’ve learned that most demons don’t. You aren’t going to fall alone, because you aren’t alone. There’s no world, where I wouldn’t be standing next to you. There’s no world, where my mother wouldn’t be holding us both when we cry. And there’s no world, where Dean Winchester lets us down when we place all our hopes on him. That’s the way family works, or well decent families. I’m 98% sure that most shitty parents would let people fall, but we’re not shitty.”

Dagon chuckles lightly. “Are you telling me to have faith in humanity?”

“No, humanity sucks. I’m asking you to have faith in me, and my mom, and my brothers. And your dad, and your uncles, and your siblings. I’m asking you to trust that we won’t let anyone fall. Not today. Not tomorrow.”

Dagon turns her eyes back to Jo for a moment. “If I give you that trust, would you offer the same in return?”

“You had my neck in your hands, and I didn’t make a single move to throw you off of me. We both know that I could have tried. We both know that’s part of what we were training, and that I know how to do so at least in the most basic of instances. What’s that if not trust?”

Dagon swallows past the lump in her throat that’s screaming at her to run away from these emotions. To run away from Jo Harvelle who appears to be more than she seems. Instead, she nods. “Alight, if we’re going to put all the chips on Dean supporting us, then we need more power tonight. If we’re going to take a leap, it might as well be all in, right?”

“What do you need, princess Dagon?”

“I need you to agree to be the guard of the heirs to hell.”

Jo shrugs. “No idea how to do that, and even less of an idea on how best to accomplish this, but you tell me what exactly you need, and I’ll do it.”

“Why?”

Jo sighs and steps back. She doesn’t have anything that resembles a decent answer. In fact what she has would fit in better among the crazy ideas that Lucifer floats around when it comes to the final threat. “Because I’m here. For better or for worse, my mom said Dean was marrying the devil and wanted us there, so we came. Now, we’re planning on reforming hell and taking down God. Whatever you tell me you need or want that I can actually help out with, I would be happy to do.”

“You’d be a servant for a demon that you barely know without hesitation.”

“Yes.”

Dagon leans against the door and closes her eyes. She reaches for each of her siblings and asks for them. Time to make a plan and stick to it, or more accurately time to make a plan that will inevitably end with all of them being dead or with all of them one step closer to winning.

Azazel pushes on the door sending Dagon backwards, with Ramiel hanging out behind him. 

“You better not need me to do any of the heavy lifting today, because I’m not currently capable,” Ramiel drawls. 

Abbadon appears on the top of the bed, her eyes burning. “Don’t worry, little brother, I can handle enough work for the both us, assuming that we have an actual plan.”

Dagon turns to stare at her sister. “If you didn’t believe me, why you’d show up?”

“Honestly, I thought this might be your attempt to get us all into a room together to make sure that everything didn’t change and that we still cared for each other. I was going to give you credit for that much.”

“That’s not technically wrong, since I don’t think you’ll be willing if you don’t love me.”

Abbadon glances up at the human. “What’s the human one doing here?”

Jo turns her head to stare at the other demon. “Whatever I’m told, I don’t have much of a plan outside of that.”

“What?”

Dagon tosses a glare towards Jo. She could have answered that in a more appropriate way, but no this way would cause Dagon to have to admit most of what she was trying to do and that’s what Jo wants. “She’s here because she’s willing to play a part in my plan.”

“What is the plan? Because as much as I love Jo, right now, I don’t know what exactly she could do to help us.”

“King Dean gave the orders today. He commanded them to find a way to work with everyone, and he told them to find as many humans who wanted to be demons as possible. Tonight, I stood up for the essence of his word,” Dagon begins.

“No,” Abbadon shouts. “If King Dean doesn’t back your play, you’ll end up in a world of trouble. You need to come up with something that will influence him to support you. What in the Hell possessed you to do something that irresponsible?”

Jo snorts. “That was her gut reaction as well. That’s where I came in, because I know Dean. If Dean even remotely hears of any of the demons questioning you when he has less of a claim to power than you, he’ll have their heads.”

Dagon inclines her head to Jo. “Right, so apparently Dean will automatically back my play, because I am his daughter. That brings me to the actual plan, which is to ensure that all of us are treated as royalty. We all ask Dean to back us.”

“Jo’s right. Papa wouldn’t even hesitate to back a claim. I assume you have plays you want us all to follow. Since you’re carrying out the essence of the rule, and everything,” Azazel adds.

“You call Dean, papa?” Jo asks. The shock colors her voice. She never thought that Dean would be the father type let alone the one with children calling him affectionate nicknames. 

“He deserves it. He made sure that I knew I could come to hm with any issues that I had, and he would have stood up to Lucifer himself, if it meant that I would be happier or safe or any other number of things.”

Dagon shakes her head to bring back the attention to her. “Papa has a good ring to it, we have dad or father, and we have papa. Think he’ll be surprised if all of us start calling him that.”

“He’ll ask whether we’re manipulating him, and if you’re planning on using it to manipulate him, that might hurt us,” Ramiel says.

Jo rolls her eyes as she slumps down to the ground, unwilling to remain standing. She trusted the people in this room not to kill her without at least decent causation. “No, he wouldn’t check. He might raise an eyebrow to try to decide why you’ve chosen to call him that, but he wouldn’t ask whether it was manipulation, because he wouldn’t care if it was.”

“Why?” The question comes from all of them except Azazel whose nodding along with Jo.

“Because it doesn’t matter why you’re counting on him as a father, it counts that you are. He might even look you dead in the eyes to tell you that he hopes one day you’ll call him father because you want him to known you care rather than any other reason, but even if that isn’t today, he won’t take that out on you.”

Dagon nods once. She already planned on calling him some form of father in court. That’s because it will cause most of the demons to freeze at the affection, and because it will cement to him that she’s calling for aid from him as the person that she should be allowed to call on for aid. “Dean made sure that all of our people were taken care of.”

Azazel nods. “He is a good king.”

“He didn’t ask for hell’s help for his own people. So as the princes and princesses of hell, I say we offer it in his place. I say that the three of you who haven’t already pissed off the demons. Go to Earth and offer sanctuary to any human willing to take us up on the offer. Give them something that they’re willing to fight for. Give them a chance to escape God’s wrath.”

Abbadon blinks. “You want us to replace the angels as the defenders of humanity. The heirs to hell protect the humans, that might be the most ironic thing you’ve ever said.”

Dagon nods. “Yes, and I’m asking you to do it with complete sincerity. I’m asking you to save as many as you can for Dean, who if I’m not mistaken looked your sins in the eye and forgave them.”

Abbadon trembles where she sits. “You are mistaken.”

“Dean didn’t forgive you,” Azazel asks. He doesn’t know what he’ll do with that information. Clearly, he can’t let his sister suffer without cause, nor can he blame Dean for his hatred.

“Dean doesn’t forgive me, he claims that I have nothing left to apologize for. That I’ve suffered for my crimes, and that’s enough.” She chokes down her gut reaction which would be to leave, to never talk about the compassion he’s shown. Instead, she looks Dagon in the eyes and nods. “I will go to Earth, and I will save the humans for Dean Winchester.”

Azazel smiles. “You knew that the second you asked me, I’d go into the arms of death for papa, so yeah I’m going to go help.”

“Papa is a good title for him. He’s already fighting to be a better father for us than anyone else,” Abbadon agrees. 

Ramiel sighs. “Well, if we’re going part of the way, we should go all the way. I’ll help save humanity with the rest of you.”

Dagon sighs in relief instead of the resignation of Ramiel. She needed them to help her, because she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing when Dean was fighting so hard for them. She just couldn’t handle that. “I would also advocate for us to get someone we trust to be our guard. We need the demons of hell to believe that we’re more than just another set of demons.”

“Who do all of us trust?” Abbadon couldn’t think of a single demon that they all trusted. She could count on one hand the people she actually trusted in this world.

“Well, I was hoping that you’d all agree that Jo Harvelle would be a good choice.”

Jo jerks her head up to stare at them with a mix of fear and pride warring in her eyes. “You want me to guard you, Dagon?”

“Me, and all of my siblings.”

Abbadon looks over at the small human, the daughter of Ellen, the daughter of one of the few people on her list. “Yes, she’ll be a nice choice.”

Jo sputters incoherently before the thoughts manage to be slightly more aligned. “But I don’t know about your world.”

Dagon smiles. “Which is why while they’re preparing to leave for Earth, I’m going to train you on how to be a demon’s guard, all before Dean wakes up.”


	49. The Best Father Award

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean stands up to the court in defense of the newly turned humans, and his children. Then, humans are allowed into hell.

Jo barely remembers the hours before the actual court session this morning. No one is any wiser on how she spent her night. She can tell that her mother is concerned about her lack of presence in the courtroom.

She’s hidden in the shadows. A perfect guard never lowers his gaze, never allows the potential enemies to know where you are. She recalls the way that Dagon had pressed these rules upon her while never forcing her to make a choice. 

Dean reaches out to stabilize Ellen. “Ellen, you said she went head to head with Dagon in spars yesterday. She could just actually be tired enough to sleep in.”

“Jo held her own.”

“Indeed, she did. I wouldn’t worry, grandmother. There are many problems that need more of our attention,” Dagon interjects. Before she glides to her knees in the light of all of the court. “King Dean, I fear I must impose upon you.”

Hisses come from the crowd, and Jo grips the demon killing blade that Dagon had handed her harder. The rules were simple, if any of them moved against her, then she had the right to destroy them. She could rip them to shreds, until then she must be silent support.

Dean raises his hand to force the crowds to quiet. He wishes that he knew exactly what game his daughter was attempting to play. “And what do you need to impose on me for?”

Dagon smiles up at Dean to try to make sure that he understands that this wasn’t a trap. She wouldn’t need to get him in front of the court to try to make him a fool. She could do that at home whenever the time came, because he’d always come for his children. That’s also why she’d never betray him. Such an interesting little path that Dean Winchester set them on by loving her. “I was training last night, with many demons. One such demon chose to ignore the rules of a duel because in his words the newly turned human scum didn’t deserve such respect. As were your orders, I made sure that wouldn’t happen again. However, it was impressed upon me that I did not have the right to act on your behalf.”

Jo barely moves, but she repositions herself where she can see the crowd with more open options. This was going to end in a fight. She could feel it in her bones. No one was going to get out of this one without someone falling on the ground, and it wouldn’t be one of the ones that she swore to protect late in the evening. 

She still remembers the blood spilled on her lips from each of the siblings. Each giving her different words to speak in hushed tones. The magic rushing over her skin as the bond formed. The way that her lifeforce was tied to them. Her mom had a place in the court as the queen mother, Sammy had one as the brother of a king, and Bobby wanted nothing to do with any of this. She now had a place in the court as the guard of the princes and princesses of hell, and even God couldn’t save anyone who dares to hurt them.

Dean blinks down at Dagon. “You are a princess of this realm. No one should ever doubt that you do my work, not to mention you have the right yourself to do such things,” he announces.

Dagon contains the desire to let out a carnal yelp of happiness. Seriously, her father did well in picking up a new mate, because he always seems to know exactly what to do to make sure that she’ll be in the best possible position. “Thank you for your faith, papa. May the court take this to apply to the other princes and princess of hell?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” Dagon says as she pushes herself into a standing position. “Because as of last night, my siblings have gone a rescue mission. Demons aren’t the only ones in danger of God’s wrath once this war starts going at heavier paces.”

Lucifer turns from where he’d been standing to look at Dagon. “What have you done?”

“What you should have. King Dean has offered our people the protection against God, I will offer the same protection to his. All humans who are willing to accept our offer will be given a place here in hell until the war has a winner.”

A demon rushes for the stage, and Jo meets him at the edge. Her blade moves faster than she does, and his body crumbles underneath her. Her eyes are steady on the rest of the demons with a body at her feet. “I would not suggest attacking a princess of this realm.”

“Jo,” Ellen whispers.

“Guard Harvelle in court. I stand as the guard for all the princes and princesses of hell until the day of my death.”

Lucifer closes his eyes to avoid turning around and starting to laugh at the insanity of what the children got up to last night. He knew that Dagon would have been scheming the second that she willingly stood up for one of Dean’s laws. That much was just natural. But, Jo helping was ridiculous, and his children agreeing to protect humanity deserves a place in the hall of most ironic actions to ever occur. “As my daughter said, humans that are willing to come to hell will have the protection that we can offer, and will work just like the rest of you to ensure benefits for all members of this community continue growing.”

“But we have always despised humans,” someone calls out.

“No, we were always trying to corrupt them.”

Another couple of demons step forward, but Jo matches their pace with equal measure. She doesn’t offer any words, just shifts her stance. A subtle way of telling them that in order to approach any of the royal family, they’d have to get through her.

“And the guard?”

Lucifer glances down at the human friend of his husband’s. “My children have always retained the right to make anyone they want their guard.”

“But she’s human!”

“A human who stood toe to toe with me. A human who’s already killed as her position demands. A human who stands up to God with the rest of her family.”

“A human who took the oath of demons to protect them. A human who stands in front of you as a human doomed for demonic fate when she dies,” Jo adds.

Abbadon crashes into the room. “Guard Harvelle, you are needed.”

Jo snaps into attention and crosses the room to her. No verbal questions were needed. They both knew exactly what they were doing the second that they walked into their roles. Her body arches up in silent support.

“Father, Papa, members of this esteemed court. Not many humans listened to the warnings that we carried across the realms, but some did. We have about 30000 humans in the realm, and we need to figure out what to do with them,” she says at a normal tone with the whole court’s attention drilled on her. Under her breath, she starts a different set of words. “Jo, go to the other three. None of them should stand alone when they stand in front of the remains of humanity.”

Lucifer heard the whispered words and wants to ask what on earth she meant by the remains of humanity. Then, he realizes that all of his children were preparing for the war. They wrote off earth, because with both Sam and Dean standing on the side of hell, no one strong or willful enough remained for the defense of humanity. That’s why Dagon had offered to get as many as they could. So that when this universe played out, humans wouldn’t be gone, they’d just be severely limited. 

Dean scans across the crowd for a moment, searching for what the current mood was. He couldn’t find a single unified emotion. Some were angry and ready to fight, some were hesitant, some were scared, and some were excited. The words that had been brought today had too many options for them not to be seen as a weird in-between stage of everything. “Demons and humans will fight together. That seems about right, since I married King Lucifer. Abbadon, get them rooms and make sure that food is available. Then, get them working. I don’t care where, but probably split them up like we did demons.”

Abbadon drops into a bow.

Ellen had turned her gaze to Dean to hear him try to deal with the chaos of humans in hell, only to turn around to not see Jo. Her daughter was welcome to make any decision on her life that she wanted, but she wished her daughter would have talked to her about this one before running off to play guard for a bunch of demons.

Gabriel’s hand lands on her shoulder as he pulls her back into him. “She couldn’t. These were all actions taken to make sure that Dagon wouldn’t suffer at what she did, and that the world would benefit.”

Ellen leans into his touch but keeps her eyes on the demon who had just given simple orders to her daughter and had them followed without any hesitation. “But she’s my daughter.”

“According to your own words, that is your granddaughter, who your daughter chose to protect.”

“How did I end up here?”

Gabriel chuckles. “You said yes to a wedding invitation that should have been something so simple. Everything should have been so simple, but Lucifer and Dean found a path that has never been seen before. None of us know where this universe ends, but we’re following the path.”

Lucifer stands up. “Listen,” he shouts. 

The crowd falls silent, and Abbadon drags her head up to meet his eyes. Even Dagon forces her eyes back up to see what would happen next.

“We are demons. For a long time, I allowed the belief that we were against humanity to exist, but that is not true. We are against God. God once stood in protection of humans, so it was a fun little game to see how many of them we could win away. Now, God stands against them to try to hurt one of your kings. Will you allow God to hurt one of the people you’ve sworn featly to?”

The crowd roars with denials. All of them ready to pick up weapons and charge the gates of heaven. That would get God’s attention, but that’s not what they need. They need armies ready to fight, they need people, demons and humans alike, to survive. 

Dean pushes himself up right next to Lucifer. “If God will not stand in their defense, if God would torture them, then what left to do but to protect them? Let us offer them sanctuary, surely that will cause God to realize that none of us are on his side of this war.”

Affirmatives go up across the crowd. 

Abbadon smiles over at her papa as she realizes that somehow they won one of the most impossible battles of all. They’ve convinced demons to stand in front of humanity in the battle. They’ve agreed to fight for something that they were once wiling to kill. “As my people and my kings demand,” she calls. Then, she turns on her heel to go give out orders to some of the humans. 

Azazel falls into step with her. “We didn’t get many.”

“We’re demons. We can’t expect humanity to understand what we’re trying to do.”

“No, you can’t. But, they’d listen to humans. I have a way to get messages to them. I’m asking whether this offer would last long enough for them to get the messages,” a human girl with flaming hair says. Her eyes say that she’d try anyway, but that she’d probably end up suffering to get them past all of the wards surrounding hell.

Abbadon comes close to telling the girl to be grateful that she’s saved, not to try to push her luck, but then her eyes lock onto Azazel’s. He’s asking her to tell him what the best choice is, because he wants to save more of the humans. He wants to give papa as much bloody happiness that they can drag from this world. “Do you have a name?”

“Charlie.”

“Well, Charlie, court is still in session. If you are willing to go give your plan to the demon kings of hell, then you can try to get approval.”

“You can’t give me approval as a princess,” Charlie asks. The confusion on her face would be adorable, if this wasn’t the worst possible time to try to get more people into hell. They were already pushing the boundaries of what could be possible without God actually just imploding the known universe. 

“No. The demons among hell have barely agreed that we shouldn’t be trying to kill you when God’s doing that work. If I made the decision, if any of my siblings made the decision, they’d rebel or worse threaten to rebel if our parents didn’t hurt us for making them make that choice.”

Azazel grins over at Abbadon. “Come on, Charlie. I’ll introduce you to the court and let you make a plea. For the sake of the courts seeing that humans are willing to accept both kings, I’d suggest pleading to Lucifer as a boon for his husband’s people.” 

Charlie walks with Azazel back towards the court. Her feet fall loud, and she dares to look up at him. “If what you said was true when you got me, then they’ll let me save them.”

Dean’s eyes fall on the human walking with him the moment, they enter the court. He barely contains his inner cursing. Today needs to end, so that he can actually get some practice with his new abilities. He doesn’t need to have another heart to heart with the entire realm that he’s managed to become king for, yet that seems to be what the world is willing to give him today. 

Charlie freezes when she realizes that the entire court is staring at her. She glances over at Azazel before slowly lowering herself to her knees. “Uh, King Lucifer, I have heard that you opened the gates of hell for humans, so that we could get to safety should we be willing. I have come to plead for the humans not already here, the ones that weren’t willing to listen to the warnings being brought to them. I have a way of reaching a good number of them through more human means. I wish to know whether the people I try to reach will have access here.”

Azazel chokes trying to contain laughter. The girl was clearly trying to be helpful, but she was not helping her case. Not at all. She was instead making it sound like humans had every right to distrust demons, which while true, isn’t what demons want to hear when they’re debating coming to the aid of said humans. 

“Why should I?” Lucifer asks. Silently wishing for someone to intervene on the behalf of the poor human. She clearly doesn’t know what she walked into, and while he’d like to help her, he couldn’t risk upsetting the demons in the room.

Crowley steps forward from the crowd. He doesn’t glance at Dean, doesn’t give even a hint of knowing the family of royals personally. He looks every bit the weasel that every demon knows him as. “I believe my lord, that they would make good cannon fodder.”

Demons laugh from all around him. They don’t know that Crowley knows that Dean would willing cut off his own head before letting anyone else fight for them. 

Lucifer smiles over at Crowley. “You’re right. Very well, little human. Send your messages. They will have a place in my kingdom.”

Charlie inclines her head. Cannon fodder, her ass. She could see the humans on the stage. They’d fight for their people; she’d fight for them. Still, this gives her a chance to get them to a place better than the battleground. “Thank you.”

Court finally adjourned and the demons left. Dean collapses into Lucifer’s arms. Ellen turns to leave until her daughter could come speak. The archangels form a circle around Dagon to congratulate her first true decision without any help from others. Things were good, or as good as they could be. Too bad that life doesn’t tend to stay that way when you’re battling God himself.


	50. The Preparations #3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family trains and tries to prepare for the end of times and a war with God. For a while that works.

Weeks pass as Charlie starts working on getting more and more people into hell. After a another tech genius named Kevin shows up and starts helping, Lucifer and Dean are honestly surprised by just how many humans and demons they now have in their kingdom under their laws. 

They try pretty hard to be fair across both sides whenever issues arise, although it is difficult when the two lifestyles really don’t clash in the slightest. Still, most of their time is spent with the other major players, their family, trying to make sure that hell is as impenetrable as it can be. 

Jo stands fierce in her battle skills now. She still has no magic to speak of, but she can now kick the ass of any of the princes or princesses of hell without breaking a sweat. Last time, they threw her against an archangel, and she might have lost, but she made them hurt, before she went down. According to her own words, that’s about as good as a human could ever expect to get. Now, as the others split time between the gym and making sure that the protections hold strong. She splits her time doing her own work out and getting other humans up to par for the war that’s coming. She doesn’t want any of them to be caught unaware. 

Ellen can’t claim that she’s gotten nearly as battle savvy as her daughter, but she’s gotten her body up to the level that she can and will be willing to throw down with whatever tries to storm the gates. The only problem that she can tell is that her main techniques still require human tricks. Still, she supposes that she’s a human, and their tricks almost kept them alive. That will just have to be enough. 

Bobby doesn’t really try at the gym. He wasn’t made for the large fights anymore. He’d already made peace with the fact that he doesn’t have the correct amount of strength to make a difference in the end. That’s okay, he’s still one of the best of them at putting together the different spells. The monsters on Earth that might side with them over God. The man who runs prophecies and makes sure that any that seem of large importance. 

Sam struggles to catch up with all of the chaos in the world. He’s agreed to put his life on the line, just like everyone else. But, he doesn’t want to be anything more than human. He doesn’t want to be able to destroy angels like Jo now can by just ignoring the human streak that says don’t let your bones break. Jo doesn’t even blink at the pain now, she just comes back with a better attack until her opponent would be dead on the ground. He can’t do that. He can’t turn off his humanity. That’s one of the few things that he can say might separate them from bad guys by the end of this. He’s not sure that they’re in the right. He’s not sure that God is either. All he can see from his perspective is that there are too many bad options and that no one could ever manage to get them all right. Still, his magic runs almost as strong as Dean’s. They were made to be vessel’s for grace, so they can channel it. So, he helps build up wards. Sometimes, he sneaks away with Gabriel. 

The first time that they snuck away in the night. Gabriel hadn’t done anything but hold him. He whispered sweet nothings and promised that by the end of all of this, that they’d be happy. Sam hadn’t believed him the first night. The second night, Gabriel made sure that Sam knew this couldn’t happen if he was looking for something temporary. Sam had slammed their lips together and told him to shut up. He knew from the start that nothing they would do would ever be temporary. Now, they don’t sleep in separate rooms. They still haven’t had sex, but then their relationship doesn’t seem to need it. Neither of them still has any reasons not to, but they haven’t because they’d rather spend what little time they got outside of the disaster brewing, in each other’s arms recharging. 

The same could not be said for Lucifer and Dean. More often than not after they have to have court. Where both Dean and Lucifer have to walk a tightrope to make sure that no one realizes that they have no clue how to join rooms. Both of them will end up in their rooms, with a drastic message that anyone who bothers them, better have a good reason or a desire to get scarred for life. Lucifer craves the pain and love balance that Dean can give him in that place. Dean loves the amount of trust that he gets from an archangel. They play off each other in the most glorious way possible. 

Dean for his roll in all of this manages the curse well. It still calls for him to come to her, but she doesn’t push. She knows full well that Dean will never come to her without Lucifer’s blessing or God pushing him too far. She doesn’t know which one of those will come first. Neither does Dean. He can tackle the archangels and win now. He can protect his mind form them to the point where Rafael believes that its possible that he could stand in front of God and manage to not give anything away. That would be something special. Dean can now stand in front of the court himself, and none of them dare to ask any questions. 

Adam for all his worth ends up running around constantly. He doesn’t have the age of the other princes and princesses, so he can’t easily just allow the demons to know that he has limits. So, when something needs to be done, he’s the one everyone calls. Someone breaks the laws, it’s on him to drag them to court until Lucifer or Dean can get to the court and pass judgement. He’s the sword that swings the words of the king. His mind hasn’t broken, but he’s no longer the little human that would have cried for his mother. Sometimes, he wishes that John had taught him how to shut it off like he did with his brothers, but he knows that caused issues on its own, and that one day in future once, they didn’t have to actually take God down, they’d all need to sit down and deal with their problems. An eternity is what they’re trying to build, and they’ll win one of these days. 

Azazel quirks his lips up almost every single day now in a true smile. He has his siblings, his parents, and a kingdom. And he bleeds for all of them. Bobby and Rafael were in agreement that blood from a monarch from hell would strengthen the wards surrounding the area, but none of them could bleed that much. Not without hurting their chances. Well, Lucifer and Dean couldn’t. And they didn’t want any of their children to pay that price. Funny thing about not wanting the children to pay the price is that somehow, they always seem to find a way to pay those prices. They don’t have any other options. They have to struggle. So, he bleeds. Most nights when the others are recharging, he’ll sit at a new focal point of the wards, and he’ll bleed. Abbadon knows, and she sits with them. She holds him up when he drops from the blood loss and patches him up. She’d spill her own if she thought it would help, but by now hell responds to Azazel’s blood more readily than it does hers. Because he’s proven beyond a doubt that he would die for those that live here. 

Abbadon has a lot to make up for. She has a lot of little quirks that she needs to figure out a way to save them all from, but she can’t for the life of her care. She doesn’t care about the humans on their soil, other than that this is their home now. They are hers. She might feel regret, but she doesn’t truly feel anything for the past. The past was before she had her papa. Before she had someone to hold her and tell her that everything would be okay, that no matter what someone would love her. She didn’t realize that she craved those words until far too late to be able to ask her father for them, which is why Dean does it without even questioning. She stands as the leader of the humans. She makes sure that they know the laws, she makes sure that they follow the laws, and she protects them from anyone who tries to break the law. She smiles freely now. They might not show happiness, but they show that she loves the family. Heck, she even offered Michael a hug, when he fell down to his knees in fear one day. 

Ramiel spends most of his time being absolutely terrified. He can barely handle the idea of being on the other end of God’s meddling. The entire family has blocked him from training or participating from the wards after the first day when he broke down into a panic that took them hours to pull him back from. He hates the fact that he can’t do more. Well, he does do something that the rest of them are far too busy to think of. He sends messages to Asmodeous. They contain the praise of Dean Winchester, the man who convinced their father to be their father. They talk about Abbadon finally being home and being happy. He writes them every day. He never gets a response, but he doesn’t need one. Even if his brother never comes home, it will be enough to know that even until the end of times, he sent the messages. He’ll rule hell while the war is ongoing. He’ll try his best to heal the injured. 

Dagon trains almost constantly. She’s buffed up Jo to the point that while she’s still firmly human, the typical restraints of humanity no longer apply. She’s taught the girl to embrace pain and pleasure. She doesn’t remember how they ended up in a bed together. Well, she knows how it happened. Jo didn’t want to get interrogated by Sam on how she can stand losing this much of the general humanness of the world. Jo and her were happy, but they weren’t complete. Jo dragged Charlie into their bed one night after she had spent the entire day on her computer trying to get as many people to safety as she could safely manage. 

The relationship isn’t perfect now, either. There’s a war they’re all planning for. Love can’t bloom when that level of stress exists. They’re existing among each other and using each other to make sure that they don’t fall off the cliff. The war will come, and if they survive, maybe they’ll try to be more than what they are right now. 

Lucifer breaks down almost every night. He cries out for forgiveness in a place that his husband wouldn’t think to look. He wants to be a better father, and instead he’s asking his children to fight in a war for all of humankind. He can’t ask them to stand down, and he can’t stand asking them to fight. Everything is awful. He begs for forgiveness for daring to trust the one who made him. He still can’t realize that he was forgiven the moment that he made the choice. In the morning, he stands taller than the rest. A king of a realm heading to war. There is no time for hesitation, there is no time for the weak. 

Gabriel just wants to breathe again. He has Sam coming to him, which he always wanted, but he didn’t want it to happen like this. He wanted the world to be better than what this is. He hoped that with Lucifer and Dean standing together, with the whole family, that this wouldn’t be the outcome, but God won’t let them go down without a fight. He’s ready to face his Father. He’s ready to stare God in the face and let him know that Aunt Amara had won, that she had always had his heart. Even if God ripped away this universe and started over for the hundredth time, he’d still have the soul connections. He’d still know that they came closer this time. 

Rafael heals, trains, and learns magic. He doesn’t break for a minute. When he’s about exhausted, he’ll just switch to a different type of any of them. The angels will fall, because he will call to them. God thinks that his strength is enough, but he forgets that he hasn’t stood by the troops of angels in centuries. All Rafael has to do is call to them as the one that stood beside them. Some will stay, but most will fall, and his embrace will catch them. Will heal their wings. Will remind them of a battle of fire without the normal end of ashes. 

Michael might be the most stable of all of them. He’s used to being a solider, nothing more and nothing less. He makes sure that their army has some semblance of order. Chaos is what the demons feed on, but they need leadership. He steps up as the general with a blessing from two kings. From the Dean Winchester who he’s learned to love. From Lucifer, the one who he never deserved to be forgiven by, but was because Lucifer craves a kind of forgiveness in return. They might not be ready to face God, but they’re still trying their best to make sure that it happens that way. 

Of course, that’s when hell breaks lose in hell.


	51. The Sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad things happen when God comes to visit. To say that he's angry is an understatement, and he's gotten them into a bit of a stalemate situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is also the end of arc 2, so only two more arcs to go.

The wards from all around hell start blaring at top sound. Dean’s the first one to the sight of the border where Chuck stands there, or rather God stands there, but Dean isn’t supposed to know that. So, he keeps that information from gracing his mind for more than a second. “Chuck, what the hell are you doing?”

“Drop the act, King Dean. My son would have told you.”

“What are you doing here, God?” He barely hides the snark in his tone, but if he’s willing to call Dean by the correct title maybe this won’t end in violence, yet. 

God’s eyes flash towards the wards. “Smart. Even I can’t cross into your borders.”

Lucifer’s hand lands on Dean’s back. He slides right up with a smile on his face. “I think that might be the first time, you’ve ever complimented on something I’ve done. Thank you.”

God’s glare deepens. “We both know I have power that would destroy this. This whole world would be nothing, and I’d start again.”

“You have done that before,” Dean replies.

God’s gaze focuses back on Dean. “How do you know that? Even the archangels shouldn’t know that truth.”

“Wouldn’t it be funny, if I, Dean Winchester, know secrets that even God doesn’t?”

Gabriel snickers as he steps down to the same place that Dean and Lucifer stand. A quick tap on the wall tells his brother and Dean that Sam’s gone to get the family gathered at this entrance. They’ll need everyone here to battle off God while the rest of hell can take angels. That’s the best that they can do, if God has taken to fighting directly. 

“I thought you’d be dead by now.”

“Sorry, daddy-o, I don’t die easy.”

God bites down the next words that threaten to spill out and remind the tiny child that if he wanted to, he could kill them all with zero hesitation. He could snap his fingers and this world would disappear, and they’d all wake up the day before they lock Amara up once more. He’s done that before, but this time he wants to crush one of them into complete obedience. His way or not a way at all, and right now that wouldn’t happen. 

Dean nods to Gabriel. “So why are you here?”

“I missed the wedding.”

“Still not an answer,” Dean comments. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you were stalling. Almost as if you don’t know what the next move should be. Did we surprise you, God?”

“You can’t surprise me.”

“No.” Dean smirks. He can hear Michael’s wings stretching across the walls of the hall. He’s offering a barricade for the rest of the forces. 

Michael steps into the clearing. His wings spread wide to catch any that happen to be stranded in these areas of hell. No time for an evacuation to the better defendable positions. So, instead they get him. “Hello, father, it’s been a while.”

“I was under the impression you were still leading the armies of heaven.”

Michael smiles. “I’d be happy too. What enemy are we fighting? Have the aliens come? Do we need to join teams? Lucifer, I think we need to team up to deal with the aliens.”

Lucifer nods. “Yes. Of course. We can’t let the aliens win.”

God snarls. The sound pushes all of them back, and the rest of the family appear from behind Michael’s wings, including Rafael just standing in the hallway. His eyes seeing far more than God would ever have wanted. “You’re all in huge trouble, throwing aside the natural order and for what?”

“For family, for love, for those pesky things that you gave souls the ability to feel,” Rafael whispers. His voice spreading straight to God’s ears. “You know family, the ones you’ve hurt time and time again. Maybe you shouldn’t worry about what your plan is, and instead ask what you think will happen when we come for you. Because all of us have a million reasons to want you dead in a box somewhere far away from here.”

“You’re bluffing,” He shouts. His eyes meet Rafael’s. 

“I am? Hey, family, I’m gong to ask a question, and I want each of you to answer letting each person answer separately.” He waits for the general nods. “Would you try to kill God and why?”

“Yes, because he’s after me and mine, and I don’t let people get away with that,” Ellen answers. Her voice manages not to waver as she threatens God right in front of him. May her soul survive this, because her sanity surely won’t. 

“I’d be happy to try right now,” Jo starts. “Because I’m pretty sure I’m in love with one of his granddaughters, and I don’t think he even knows her name.”

God shakes his head, but the glare that Rafael shoots him causes him to fall silent. He can’t stand the idea of these people believing such lies about him, but this is what happens when you let chaos reign, so he keeps his mouth glued shut. 

Bobby shrugs. “You’ve all told me enough stories to know that he’s a dick. So, yeah, you ask me whether I’d be willing to help you make a body to hide, I’ll be glad enough to do it.”

Sam sighs. He can’t believe that they’ve ended up this far from the start. “A little above my pay grade, but what the hell? Not like he’ll stop trying to kill me for a moment to make it worthwhile not to.”

Dagon stretches her arms up above her head. “Tell you what, I wouldn’t try to kill him. That might have unforeseen consequences. Let’s just lock him up in that box he put his sister in, because I don’t know about you, but I’d like a family that actually has meaning.”

Abbadon laughs. Every bone in her body tells her that this is insanity. Not her brand of crazy where she can spread the blood of enemies all across herself, but the crazy that leads to them all being tired by the end of the day. “Yes. I’ll kill the little God for no other reason than that he made father doubt for a moment that he was capable of love. I’m his daughter, he’ll always love me, no matter what you say.”

Dean throws an arm around Abbadon and just stares at God for a long moment. “I’m the one who started the whole, if we’re going to get married, we should try to reach out to family. Which became the whole, oh my god, God is such a shitty father, we’ve got to end him. So, you know I’m down for killing him.”

“Not to mention that he’s caused me enough pain that I’ve run away from just about everyone. I think that gives me a really good reason to want him dead,” Gabriel agrees. 

Adam briefly meets the eyes of God. The fire burning behind them should cause him to panic, but instead he just shakes his head. “I’ll help kill him if you guys ask, but I’ve got no grudge personally. I’d just be backing the family play.”

Azazel gently pushes himself away from the wall. “You almost killed my brother, I think I ought to repay the favor.”

Ramiel shakes his head and steps back. “I’d rather not fight you. I’ve felt the after effects of your magic, your power. I know what you can do. But, you need to die. So, if that means I have to fight, so be it.”

Lucifer glowers at his father but steps in front of his children. One last ditch effort to be a better father than his. “I can claim I’ll die for my children. Can you say the same?”

God shakes his head slowly. Of course, he wouldn’t die for any of his creations. Even the archangels that should have been his. They’re nothing compared to him. He is the ultimate goal. 

“Then, you don’t deserve the life you live, or the love that exists on this planet.”

Michael stares at his father. He knows that his father still thinks that there is a chance that he’ll come running after all of this. Time to make sure that the truth wins out. “And I’ll be the one making sure your ashes are scattered so fucking far that even you couldn’t piece yourself back together. Because you made me believe my brother was evil, my brother who still loves me. How can something that loves that strongly be evil? Oh, that’s right because you’re the liar here.”

Rafael grins at God. “Don’t worry about your little plans. That’s the least of your worries. Because you’ve now got a family made up of every single person that might exist standing in front of you, letting you know that we’re coming for you. You destroy this timeline, that’s fine. We’ll try again. We’ll try again and again and again. Until your body lies at our feet, and our power lives on regardless of whether we’re here.”

God smiles then. Good, they think the worst he can do is start over. Good thing he’s ready to break them. Break them one after another. “Well, don’t you want to hear why I’m here.”

“You going to answer this time, or will you be all silent and brooding,” Dean drawls. Then, retracts his arm and walks to the edge of the border. “Tell me, God, why are you here?”

“To offer you a deal. Someone must die tonight from your side, or I will start plucking random humans, random demons, and random angels and burning them right here in front of you. Don’t worry, I already have the first three chosen. The humans will be represented by the wonderful Ash from Road house, an old friend of Ellen’s, if I’m not mistaken.” He waves his hand and Ash hangs from a stake. 

“Demons were a bit tricky, but I found this one called Asomdeous. Ridiculous name, right?” Another wave.

Lucifer falls to his knees. The air knocked from his lungs as he stares at his son. That’s his child. God has his son tied to a stake. Right there.

“Oh, that one hurts. I wonder why. For angels, Anna, she's already fallen."

Azazel doesn’t let his face show any emotion. The angel he wants to fall for, and the brother that he can’t handle losing. This would be a worthy reason to die, but that would break his father. No good options left. 

God smiles. “Good, I’m glad we’re all on the same page. I can spare ten minutes from my preparations to let you make a choice.”

Dean kneels on the ground to pull Lucifer into his arms. The glare pierces the wards, but no one moves as Dean sits there. His decision to make, and he has no clue what the right words were.

Dagon steps forward to meet eyes with God as she leans over her fathers. “And tell me what do we get if we do send someone out to you? What promises can you give that you won’t just kill them anyway?”

“My word,” God says. He can’t believe that he’s having to explain trust to a demon today. Seriously, this is almost embarrassingly easy. 

“We don’t trust you. I thought that was pretty obvious with the whole, all of us being willing to kill you.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“Not at all, and you have my brother tied to a wooden stake, and while I personally think leaving him there is justice for not listening to any of his siblings. Plus, you have some poor human, who Ellen knew. Come on, you expect trust while you’re trying to hurt us. Try again.”

God bunches up his face. “Fine, if you trade, I’ll let one of the archangels come and grab all of them and get back to the wards while I’m busy with the sacrifice.”

Dagon nods. “Michael.”

“I can do it, Dagon.”

Asmodeous laughs from where he’s tied up. “Oh come on, God. They’re stalling. No one is going to die for a son who didn’t manage to believe they’d care. I mean I can see now that he does. I mean he’s crying, but he can’t come get me, not without dooming them all. That’s the price of mistakes.”

Ellen closes her eyes. She hates every second of hearing Lucifer sob just a little more. And that’s her damn kid. Fuck it all, these are her kids. God can’t claim them. “Lucifer, for the sake of my sanity, is that your son?”

“What?” he sobs.

“Is that your son,” she snaps. 

“Yes.”

She turns to Dean. The question clear in her eyes, but she manages to ask the question all the same. “Dean?”

“I claimed all of his kids. Even the stubborn ones who didn’t want to come home right then. That’s my son too.”

Ellen steps right up next to the wards. Her eyes meet God’s. Then, she steps out.

Michael’s wings collapse around all three victims, and they’re back in hell. He barely blinks. He doesn’t have the time. He has to get them to safety. That’s his job. 

Lucifer’s arms circle around Asmodeous as they all turn to Ellen.

Ellen for her part looks calm for the first time in forever. Her eyes never left God’s. “That human girl in there. That’s my natural born daughter. But those Winchester boys are my sons. You don’t get to claim otherwise. And one of them married your son, Lucifer. And, I found out that they had no family. Because you locked away the one who tried, and you never gave them another thought. So, they became my sons. Those are my sons in there. And they claimed that boy on that stake as theirs. So, fuck you. You can take me, but you will not have my sons. You will not have my grandsons. Hell, you can’t even touch my daughter. Do you hear me?”

“You’re willing to die,” he murmurs. He didn’t see this coming.

“A mother’s sacrifice. What Mary should have done.”

God snaps her neck, before leaving. He’ll have to go back to the drawing board.

Jo falls to her knees. The sobs overtaking her.

Dagon pulls her into her arms and turns to her dad’s. None of them were okay. But, none of them were beyond the point of repair.

Charlie sneaks out of one of the rooms and leans into her lover’s arms.

Dean closes his eyes. He doesn’t let any tears fall. “Is our son?”

“He’s okay,” Lucifer answers.

Dean nods. “Then, I’m done.”

“What?”

“I’m not waiting for you to be okay. He just killed my mother. He’s a dead god walking. And, I’m going to go talk to the only person who could possibly help me.” He stands up and walks away. He’ll still fight for them, but he won’t make that be his only priority. Never again. He has to win this war before he can try to appease family, otherwise, they’ll break further next time without a mother to be sacrificed.


	52. The Meeting of the Fiance's family #2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean is pissed, rightfully so, and goes to get the one person who might be able to do something about what's happening right about now.

Dean doesn’t pause. The only person who might have been able to pull him back from this ledge was the one with her neck snapped out in the front of hell. To say that he’s not alright mentally, might be an understatement of the year. He can’t do this anymore. 

A hand touches his arm, and he yanks around ready to punch someone. Needless to say, he wasn’t expecting his brother. “She called me her son too, please, just come talk.”

“Not this time, Sammy. She’s dead. She’s dead, and if Amara were here, she wouldn’t be. None of you, feel her. I do. Her pain at this rivals mine. She knows this hurts us. She knows, and she suffers. So, let me go.”

Sam tightens his grip. “Dean, you don’t want to destroy all of your family. You could lose your husband. She could kill him.”

Crowley appears and rips Sam’s hand off Dean’s arm. “We all agreed to support him, if he ever said this became too much. You don’t get to back out just because today has been the worst day of our existence. We never get to do that.”

Dean wishes that he could smile right then. At the fact that at the end of the day, Crowley backed his play instead of Lucifer’s with little hesitation. “Tell my husband, that if he wants to hate me for this, that’s his choice.”

“Father doesn’t hate you, he’s still curled up with most of my siblings crying. They all are. I’m here to make sure someone watches for your return. I’ll rule hell, and Crowley will watch you,” Abbadon says. 

Sam turns to her. “You can’t possibly think this is smart.”

“Smart? Not at all. Necessary? Definitely.”

Dean raises an eyebrow. 

“What?” She pouts. “All of you are hurt that Ellen is dead, including me. But, we can’t bring her back to life. Not unless you’ve been keeping some major secrets, that need to talked about right now. So, if this will make at least one of a little less broken, that’s the plan we’re going to go with.”

Dean steps forward and wraps her in his arms. “Make sure that brother of yours knows that I don’t blame him for what happened.”

“You don’t?”

“No more than I blame you for those murders. Just products of not knowing you had a family, and that I can forgive.”

Abbadon laughs. Another by-product of being insane involves not caring whether the rest of everyone thinks you’ve lost whatever’s left of your sanity. “Go, papa. I’ll take care of things here until you get back here with the backup for the ages.”

Dean leans forward and presses a kiss to her forehead, before turning on his heel and letting the magic of the darkness take him to where he’s supposed to go. 

“I am sorry,” Amara whispers the second he’s close enough to hear her voice. He’s felt her emotions before, but he’s never actually been able to hear her thoughts before. 

Dean’s eyes flash in rage, before falling back into the blank expression. “You know that I’m going to free you, so you can tear him down before he hurts anymore of my family.”

“Yes.”

“I suppose I should ask that you spare my family yourself. The plan was going to be begging to you for mercy on their behalf.”

“But, their lives are not on you. Dean Winchester, you do not have to worry about them. I am willing to forgive all of them, if they apologize to my face as often as they do in my name.”

Dean snorts. “Well, that’s the thing, I was planning on begging for them. Instead, I’ll do one better. I don’t care what you do once you’re out, but if you target my family, I will find a way to lock you back up, right next to your brother. I won’t regret it, and I won’t hesitate. You hurt me or mine, and you’ll be as good as dead.”

Amara smiles. He can’t see her, but he should feel her pride, and her joy. She always hoped that someone would stand up to the system that her brother built and remind him that he gave their creations enough power to take them down, if they had enough of a plan to. “Who am I?”

“You are the Darkness. You are Amara. You are god’s sister, a goddess in your own right.”

“Listen to me well, Dean Winchester, lest you lose your way again. I will not harm you, nor any of your family. I plan on having conversations with each of you though. Here and now, this is me and you. Then, I’ll go talk to each one of the rest of your family. I have promises to keep and deals to make. I have things to do before we kill God. But, if he comes for us, while I’m still busy, I will rip out his heart myself.”

Dean nods. He can understand that. He’d need time to talk to people after this long too, and every member of their family needs this. They all need to know that they’ve been forgiven, or better yet, they need to know that they never needed it. “Tell me how to free you.”

“You are the living key to my cage. Place your hand on the edge of the darkness and let the magic flow from you.”

Dean reaches out to press his hand against the darkness. The magic, the power that he had begun to get used to flows out of him. Into what he knows is its rightful owner. Slowly, the darkness retracts and the form of a woman appears. 

Amara reaches out and drags Dean into her arms. “Sh, little one, your husband won’t hate you for this. He’ll be angry for a short time, if only because you didn’t stay to grieve with them. You came here.”  
“Grief won’t bring her back and sitting in the corridor sobbing for her won’t stop him from deciding to play the same game again. This was the only thing I could do.”

Amara rocks him slightly in her arms. “I am aware, and he will understand once you explain, you’ll just have to convince my extremely stubborn son to listen.”

Dean nods from in her arms. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me for this. I’m not doing this for you. I’m not even sure that I’m doing this for me. I’m starting to think I’m standing here for those children of mine, even though I haven’t seen them in millennia.”

“You made the same choice that Ellen did. You saw that it was your or your children, and you said that as long as you had the strength to make sure that it wouldn’t be your children, that it wouldn’t be your children,” Dean notes. 

Amara blinks. She hadn’t drawn that conclusion. Ellen was much braver than her, because she told them all that’s why she did this, whereas Amara hid. “You’re smarter than you let most people think. I have two bargains for you.”

“I figured, given we’re still here, and you haven’t taken us both back to hell where you can start your path to forgiveness, and I can start trying to find people to explain this to. Well, I’m pretty sure my kids understand, which means Jo understands. So, probably just Lucifer that I’m going to need to explain things to.”

Amara laughs for the first time in centuries. Because that simple explanation was so true, yet so far from the actions of others. Most people would assume that they’d need to gather everyone and explain to everyone what happened. But not her Dean. No, her Dean would know who was still upset and try to fix that before anything else. “The first bargain I can’t tell you about without it unbalancing the scales.”

“I love bargains that I can’t even know what I agree to. What do you need in order for this to work as you wish it to.”

“I ask for your trust and to tell me that you agree to uphold the bargain.”

Dean pauses for a moment. He trusted her for various reasons, but primarily because he could feel her. And now, without that connection, this would be pure faith. Probably the closest that Dean would ever come to being religious. “I will uphold the bargain that you have struck between us, even though I know no what I must do. I trust that you will let me know when my time to making sure this bargain works is upon me.” 

Amara chuckles deep in her chest. She knows the pain that he feels, and a part of her is saddened at the death of his mother figure, but she has no true reason to stay in the sadness. Not when she finally has the ability to leave, and to stop God. “Second choice. Are you ready?”

“I don’t know. But, you have to tell me what it is before I can ever approach being able to be ready.”

“God has soldiers. He has an army. We have a realm that has been torn apart and put back together by one of God’s sons. I have no one that is mine.”

“I would argue that some of his sons, think of you more of theirs than God, but I understand your point.”

“I would have you be mine. I would repurpose your soul as my knight. As one that has the same powers of the archangels only instead of God’s penchant for creation, you have mine for destruction. You would stand in front of his armies as my solider.”

Dean smiles. “Lucifer was worried you’d leave me to suffer as a human once more.”

“He does have issues,” Amara agrees. 

“One request as you’re refurnishing my soul and what not.”

Amara closes her eyes to see the soul more easily. She starts mending the edges to her domain while leaving the core. The part that Lucifer tied together during the wedding. The part that allowed him to stand up to God time after time. “Ask for your favor.”

“Let me talk to Lucifer first.”

“Always. I know better than to interrupt a bonded pair.”

Dean nods. That’s probably a true sentiment. Then, the dam broke, and he could feel. He could feel himself and Amara once more. He could taste his own soul and hers. He could feel magic. “Oh.”

“Oh, indeed. Today, Dean Winchester, you are mine. Come, let us go to hell. You go to your husband, and I shall go to Gabriel. I need to convince him to stop blaming himself.”


	53. The Not Quite Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean has to go calm his husband down before something stupid happens. Like him panicking and trying to start a fight with his aunt. Or him panicking and offering to jump off a cliff. Dean's job is never done.

Dean wakes up to see Crowley standing over him. “Hey, bestie, how’s it going?”

Crowley freezes as he turns to stare at the now awake human lying on the ground only moments ago seeming even more human than before and then after that, so much less than anything he’s ever encountered. “Other than one of my kings trying to give everyone a heart attack, a mother figure dying, I’d say the day’s going peachy.”

Dean huffs and pushes himself up off the ground. “Today sucks, no doubt about it, but we’re going to win this war.”

“The war against God. That’s the war you want me to believe that we’re going to find a way to win. Try again, my king.”

“That’s the one. We’re going to win, because we have God’s sister on our side, and because I’m too damned pissed off at God to let him keep walking around like he can own this place. This world might owe its existence to him, but that doesn’t make it his, its ours.”

Crowley shakes his head. “You’ve been out for a couple hours. Your brother, Jo, your children, and Bobby haven’t moved from where the edge of the protection lays. They’re staring at her body. Michael took over from Abbadon, so she could mourn. He stands in front of hell. Lucifer locked himself in your room. Gabriel said something about the tides changing, and that he has to get ready. Rafael has been praying. I’m not really sure who to, or why, but he won’t stop he said until someone of higher power drags him off his knees.”

Dean wants to push off and run to Lucifer. To wrap his husband in his arms and cry. To try to explain why it is that he won’t give up, and why he went after Amara without even telling anyone. But, he’s a king and a knight. His first response needs to be to his people and his goddess. “Just tell me whether I need to go drag him off his knees, deal with the court, or whether I can go to my husband.”

“Even with the mark of Cain, you don’t match the raw strength of an archangel,” Crowley points out. 

“I no longer where the mark of Cain. I released Amara from the cage that has been holding her all of this time, and she in turn made me her knight with all the access to her powers that the archangels have to God’s. Only where there’s focuses on light and creation, mine focuses on darkness and destruction. Trust me, if I want him off his knees, I can make him get the hell up.”  
Crowley raises his hand to cover his eyes. “Okay, you actually released God’s sister. Okay, I mean, I knew you were going.”

“It’s one thing to know that he was planning on freeing me, and quite another to know that he has freed me,” Amara murmurs, stepping out of the shadows. “Dean, go to your husband. Nothing will happen to your people or your family while you try to convince him to calm down, I will ensure it.”

Dean bows to her before taking off in a run. He would drastically prefer to see his husband than deal with whatever emotions were about to overtake Crowley once he realizes that he’s standing in front of one of the most powerful beings to ever have lived.

He makes his way to their room without running into anyone else. He wonders whether that’s because all the rest are mourning in a different way, or because Lucifer has driven everyone else away. He pushes the door open to be confronted with his husband’s glare with tears brimming over his eyes.

“Have you come to gloat that you betrayed me too?”

“No, I’m here to tell you that you aren’t the only person she died for today. I’m here to remind you that I loved her too. And that my love for you will not decrease just because she died, and you’re taking the blame. Because, I don’t blame you for that. Nor, do I think I’ve betrayed you. You don’t believe she’ll forgive you. And that’s your choice to believe, but I don’t think that’s how that happened.”

Lucifer turned his head and gave a choked laugh. His mother dead, and his aunt returned to finally bring him to justice after all these years. This day will forever mark the moment that he knows that he’s never been favored by any people. “You think she’ll forgive the person who locked her away. Would you?”

Dean snorts and steps closer. “I think I’ve proven multiple times now, that the answer to that question will always be yes. I forgave Azazel for killing my birth mother, because he was just following his nature, and the deal that she made. I forgave Abbadon for killing humans when she was hurting and lashing out like a child, because she’s my child now too. And the second that he asks for it, I will forgive Asmodeus for all the pain he’s caused simply because he was scared to come home.”

“Why?”

“Because their actions were made by fear, by loyalty, and by what they knew. They didn’t purposely try to hurt me or the people they were sworn to protect. They didn’t break any rules. You didn’t either. She could have begged you to stop, she chose not to. She chose to not make you wear that burden. The only person who put her in that cage, is God, and she’ll help us tear him down.”

Lucifer leans his head back against the bed and stares at Dean. “No, she’ll probably help him tear us down for daring to be happy, and then she’ll destroy Earth, and then she’ll go after God. She has to hurt us first, just in case God manages to win.”

Dean lets out a sigh. He brings the power she gave him to the surface and forced Lucifer to stare. “No, she won’t. Because, I am made from her, the way you are made from God. Only where God shut you out, hurt you, destroyed you, she has made me complete. She allows me to see her, as she can see me. There is no world where she hurts you, because there is no world where she can hurt you and her actions would not hurt me.”

Lucifer leans over and brushes his hand against the magic. Then, he collapses straight into Dean’s arms. “How are you not sobbing uncontrollably?”

“Because I won’t break today for Ellen. I’ll break in once the war is over, or maybe when Amara tells me that I would be safe to break. Today, she died for our children. So, let’s go make sure our children make it out of this,” Dean says. Deep inside him, he knows that something should have broken in him. He should have broken by now, which means that Amara has his pain for now. She’ll take that burden for the day. He won’t have to worry about the pain of that for another day at least. 

Lucifer lets Dean drag him up to go to where the children were still staring at the body. He couldn’t bring himself to get up all the way. He has no idea how on Earth, Dean stays so calm. But, he’ll accept the pillar of strength, so that he doesn’t have to suffer in silence for a little while left still. 

Dean leads them both down to the hall, to where her body is. He forces himself not to collapse as he sees it. He sends a silent thought to the connection formed between him and Amara. “Can I use the destruction to get rid of the body?”

No response comes but the body fades from the area where it had lain, and Dean knows that is her way of telling him not to worry about that today. Not to worry about hell, about the kingdom, or the war. She’ll stand for him until he can have his family back into something that might one day resemble stability. 

Azazel throws himself at Dean with all of his strength, and Dean catches him. “Sh, sh, you’re safe.”

Dagon stares out at the empty ground. “Are we? Because it kind of felt like God was using us to try to force you and father into doing what he wants, which is giving in to his master plan.”

“You’re not wrong,” Lucifer whispers. Then, he turns to Dean and picks himself up. “God did try to use you children against us, because he knows that we’re better parents than him. He knows that we love you, so he thinks he can use you in order to force us into some kind of box, but he’s an idiot. Because he still hasn’t figured out the key point. Which is that we are not just better parents than him, we’re better creatures than him. We would die before we let him hurt you, but we would also make sure that our blood split would not end the battle. This time we’re fighting a war.”

Abbadon turns to look over at Dean. Her eyes were dark, but strong. “Did you get our aunt?”

Dean nods. “Yep, she’s probably going to come to talk to you at some point. She wants to know her family.”

Lucifer presses back up against the wall staring at them all. “Unless of course this is a trap to kill us all,” he comments. 

“If this were a trap, she wouldn’t give me the power to save you from anything except maybe her, but I could fight her for a while.”

“You think she knows you’d die for dad,” Abbadon asks.

“Given so far today, I haven’t given up on any of this family despite the fact that someone I loved died, she knows. She knows that I would willing die for any of my children or my husband. Assuming my husband didn’t die for me first.”

Asmodeus nods and looks back out at the ground. “I would understand if you wanted my punishment for the death of your mother.”

“No.”

Lucifer glances at Dean. “You heard him.”

“What?” Asmodeus asks.

Abbadon wraps an arm around his shoulders. “Remember how I told you that this wouldn’t be the end of the world. Remember how I told you not to worry because she died for you not because of you. Remember how I whispered that it was okay to be sad because she was a member of this family, but that fear was completely unnecessary in the current situation.”

“I assumed you meant because you knew that my punishment would be nothing compared to my sorrow.”

Dean steps forward and places a hand on Asmodeus’ cheek. He waits out the flinch that comes. No touch should cause comfort in his eyes, yet that’s all Dean has to give any of his children after everything. Even knowing that Ellen was dead, he would carry on her lessons on how to be a better parent. “She meant that you are my son. She asked me to claim you before she went to God’s hands to die. She asked whether you were one of ours. The answer was yes, the answer will always be yes, no matter how many times you feel you have to run. It is not on you that God dared to take you hostage in order to try to force us into submission.”

“Wouldn’t have happened if I came home,” Asmodeus mutters. 

Dean tosses a glance over at Lucifer, but Lucifer is staring down at his shoes. This will be Dean’s choice because this is Dean’s fight and Dean’s decision to make. He wouldn’t dare try to take that from Dean, not without having an actual death wish. “No, it wouldn’t have. And you would have come home, if your father had ever done the responsible thing and talk about feelings with his children. Instead, you all doubted his love for you. If I’m going to forgive him for being a shitty parent for a while, then I can forgive you for the actions you took when you didn’t know who to trust. That’s just the way that this works, kiddo. No need to be worried. We’ve got this.”

Asmodeus tilts his head to the side to study Dean. “You’re the one my siblings call papa.”

“I hope so, I am after all married to your father.”

He swallows hard. “Does this mean that I’m not going to be punished?”

“Yeah, that’s what this means.” Dean turns and tugs on Lucifer to pull him into the embrace. Then, he pulls away. “Now, come on kids. No need to stare at where she died. We don’t need to heap sadness on top of ourselves. That won’t do anyone any good.”

Lucifer smiles through his tears. “Yeah. Maybe after some sleep, we’ll all be prepared to face the world again with enough plans to make God lose.”

Dagon cracks a grin with her teeth pointing out of her mouth. “No, we don’t need to be prepared. We’ve been prepared, we just need the orders from the person who can tear him down. Named Amara.”


	54. The Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amara goes to talk to all of the family and offer them whatever reassurances she can.

Amara slips into the hallway where Crowley still stands gaping. She could try to calm him down, but his mind would cope after a moment. He unfortunately lost hope at some point and stopped believing that someone could actually come back to save him. His soul was so used to getting close but never far enough, but this would be a different because Dean Winchester had dragged her down here, so they didn’t have to stand alone.

Her hand reaches for his shoulder as she passes. A silent comfort. No words would comfort him during this time. 

“Do we win?” Crowley asks suddenly. His back still turned against her. He doesn’t want to see her face, he doesn’t want to know whether all of this is just another game. She could play those situations with Dean and with Lucifer. But, he just wants to be allowed to survive. He just wants to know whether this was possible.

Amara tilts her head towards the demon. In this world, she never thought he’d ask her for an answer that would need to be taken for faith. He’s never been one of the people who put any stock in faith. Still, she smiles. “Yes, we win. There’s still debate on whether we live afterwards or if we just tear this universe to shreds and force him to start all the way over with new souls.”

“But either way, this is the end, and he doesn’t get to succeed in his plans,” Crowley confirms. 

Amara nods.

Crowley lets out a breath of air. “Alright, then I’ll prep your armies, Lady Amara. You’ll need them eventually.”

Amara inclines her head in a mock bed. “Thank you.”

Crowley turns and leaves. He’ll get the armies ready and pray that none of her children will piss her off enough to make her abandon them before they all end up dead at the end of God’s hands.

Amara steps down the hall and enters the room where Gabriel sleeps. She’s not surprised to see him waiting up for her. “I made it home,” she says.

“Were you ever expecting not to?”

“I wasn’t sure when you’d figure it out that in order to win the war, in order to save me, our family would have to come together. I wasn’t really expecting a human to be the uniting force either, but here we are, and Dean is definitely the glue holding this together.”

Gabriel nods. “He was. He won’t be anymore. You’ll have to figure out how to keep us together yourself, because Dean stood tall today. He watched someone he loved die, and he stood strong for the rest of us, so none of us would have to bear the burden. He doesn’t have the strength to do that again, and one day he’s just going to break down when he realizes exactly what it is that he did today.”

Amara smiles. “I am not your father. I don’t let my people break in ways that they can’t pick themselves back up from. I protected him from those emotions until he got to me, and then I held him as he broke, so he never had to try to hide it from all of you.”

Gabriel laughs low and short. “I’d argue that you broke me.”

“I suppose that would be true. I am sorry I had to ask you to fight me. I am sorry that I told you to let the worse come to pass, so that I could stand on higher footing for the war.”

Gabriel turns over and buries his head in the pillows. “Go see your other children, auntie. I forgave you a long time ago. And you never had to forgive me, because I followed your instructions to the letter even when they hurt me, my brothers, and everyone else that I ever loved.”

“You forgave me, yes. But have you managed to forgive yourself?”

“Excuse me,” he snaps. 

“You owe me no apology. No crimes were committed against me that I did not ask you to commit. Yet, crimes were committed on the ones you loved. You let your brother fall, because I told you I believed it necessary. You let Rafael hide away and not talk for centuries, because you ran because of me. You let Michael believe the worst in all of you because you never confronted him about the fact that he was wrong. So, I’ll ask you again, my little one, have you forgiven yourself?”

“No. Nor will I do so today. I broke with what you asked of me and those were the consequences. I’ll forgive myself when we win, when I can see that somehow this was all worth it. Because, if we fail, I’d like to wallow for a solid minute as I die about how I should have forged my own path.”

Amara kneels down next to his bed and brushes the hair from around his ears. “You are mine. You can forgive yourself now, because even God cannot reset the timeline with my powers belonging to me here. You can forgive yourself because this is the endgame. He cannot restart now, because I am here. That’s why I told you to let him, because that gave him a specific point, he could rewind to where he thought he had everyone’s support. He wasn’t smart enough to see that I had you. That I had told you about his power grab, about my love. He thought I was as heartless as him, and that is why we will still win.”

“Can you promise me that? Can you promise that we’ll come out of this alive? That we’ll be able to build lives that can’t be interrupted by him?”

“Of course, little one. We’re going to live, and you’re going to get your happy ending and so will the rest of them.”

Gabriel pushes himself into her hands and tilts his head so she can see his eyes. “I thought when you got back, my fear would decrease, but now I’m even more scared.”

Amara leans forwards and presses a kiss to his forehead. “Don’t be scared. I’m here, and he’d have to go through me to touch any of you.”

“Can you answer me one more question?”

“As many as you need.”

“If Dean had done what he thought was necessary in the first place, if you had been here, would Ellen be dead?”

“Don’t put that onto yourself. Don’t do that, Gabriel. You couldn’t have known the future perfectly until its played out. You know how your powers work better than any of your brothers. You know better than to ask questions that don’t have simple answers.”

Gabriel reaches out to catch her hand and hold her close to him. “I let him push Dean away from getting you. I chose not to come clean because I still believed in your words. So, no, if you would have saved her, that means her death is on me. And, I have to know just how low I let myself get in order to save this world before I can begin to forgive myself.”

Amara sighs. Her boys always seem to take blame for the what ifs in the world, simply because they can see them more clearly than others. That doesn’t seem right to her, but then she hasn’t been a part of this world for too long to truly have an opinion. “Maybe. Even I don’t have the power to tell that. If I was here, God wouldn’t have made the demand in that way. But, he probably would have offered a different type of trade, and Ellen would have made the choice so that none of her grandchildren or children had to pay the price. As she put it, a mother’s sacrifice. Never allow your children to pay a price that you can still pay yourself.”

“Father wouldn’t have for us,” he whispers.

“No, but I did. Maybe that’ll be enough. My sacrifice and hers.”

Gabriel nods. “I’ll try to be better in the morning.”

Amara kisses the top of his head as she stands from her position at his side. “You don’t have to be. Take as much time to grieve as you need. I am fully capable of doing the next couple bits of a plan on my own. No need for dramatics.”

She leaves Gabriel’s room with the door open. Sam would come by soon, and she planned on speaking to him. He wasn’t one of hers, but he also wasn’t not one of hers. Somehow he managed to play sides in the worst way possible.

Sam steps around the corner to see her and freezes. “I see my brother did decide to hide from his grief using you,” he says.

“Interesting way to describe what happened.”

“He wasn’t here. We were.”

Amara tilts her head. “I have every intention of making sure that we win the war that Ellen died for. I have the power to save the rest of you from God’s hands. Why would your brother not come to me? I am the only one he knows that could possibly try to save you.”

“We’ve done the impossible before. We’ve done the impossible so many times that I almost have to laugh. So, tell me, why do we come to you this time?”

“Because in all the others you don’t win. You survive, but you’re broken. You never find Gabriel, so you are lonely beyond measure. Dean doesn’t have Lucifer, so he doesn’t allow himself to love. Michael and Rafael died so much earlier because you and Dean had to kill them to survive the impossible. Because Jo and all of Lucifer’s children lie dead buried six feet under. Because Ellen died so much earlier for no one’s saving grace with her daughter dead in her arms. You forget Sam Winchester, that the world is not always better just because you stand together.”

Sam leans on the wall. “You’re not the first to tell me that. I don’t blame my brother for his choice, but others might.”

“No, they won’t.”

Sam nods once. “Very well, Amara, sister of God. Welcome to hell, turns out its not so bad. Quite a few of us have found people to love down here.”

“I have found that while I might be able to love children in a maternal way, I do not have the capability to love as you are talking about.”

Sam chuckles as he walks by Amara. “I was talking about familial love, because none of us down here haven’t found that. You’re welcome to some of it as well.”

“You are full of surprises.”

“I like to keep people on their toes. Good luck finding all the stragglers of the family and doing introductions.”

“Good luck getting my nephew out of his own head.” Amara continues on her walk with a smile on her face. She could either go try to talk to Bobby or she could go find Rafael. Rafael would welcome her presence, and she’d save that until after Bobby. So, she turns to knock on his door.

Bobby swings the door open to glare at the ethereal being standing at his door. “So, you’re God’s sister?”

“Yes. Although right about now, I’d much prefer to be named the boys aunt than his sister. I hear that he has caused you no shortage of grief recently.”

“You can’t hide from blood. Dean can’t hide from the fact that one of his parents was an abusive man once his wife died, and that his mother was willing to trade his brother’s life for his father’s. Sam can’t hide from those truths either. You can’t hide from the fact that Ellen was a dear friend of mine, and she’s dead because of your brother’s actions. The next move is yours to choose. You can help us tear God down, and prove you don’t agree with his actions, or you can run away to play family with your boys and stop God from hurting them more.”

“Who says I can’t do both. After all, I am a goddess.”

Bobby shakes his head with a grumble. “No, you can’t do both. Because one will put your boys in danger. You can’t keep them safe and fight this war properly. That’s one of the major reasons that I disagree with Dean’s decision to drag you down here. I know full well you’ll forgive everyone, I don’t believe you’ll fight for us.”

Amara smiles. No one has ever dared to say words like this to her or God before. That makes him special. That makes him part of this family. “You misunderstand. I plan on fighting my brother until he’s locked away for a good long bit, but I plan on dragging every single member of our family back home at the end of this. Including you.”

“Good luck with that. I’m pretty sure my boys have a mission to end up dead some days.”

“Dean’s a bit harder to kill since I’ve made him my knight in the same fashion that God made the archangels his. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that one, and we both know he’ll swoop down to save Sammy in the middle of a battle no matter what comes.”

“I suppose you might be right on that count.”

Amara nods and closes his door behind her. Another one who wasn’t happy with her arrival, but still willing to listen. That was a nice touch. Only one left like that, Jo. She’s still not sure what she’ll say to Jo when she sees the actual blood daughter of the woman who died to get all of them together. Still, her feet carry her to Rafael next.

Rafael who kneels on stone floors, the cold seeping into his body, while praying. Praying to every angel left in this world. Trying to convince them to jump ship before the battles kill them slowly. Blood seeping from his hands as the pain of trying to reach heaven when God has cast you away. 

“What are you hoping to accomplish, my healer?”

“Hello, auntie. Nice to see you again.”

“Not an answer. Not even a decent deflection. Have you grown dull during our time apart?”

Rafael finally turns although not lowering his hands or rising from his position, so that he could at least meet her eyes. “I know full well that you would not approve of my current decisions, and I will not be swayed by my path. It was not meant to be a deflection, merely me not choosing to answer.”

“And pray tell, my healer, what is so important that you are willing to injure yourself before the turn of war?”

“Any of the angels still under his control. Any single person who could possibly reached through prayer. If even one of them gets saved, this will be worth it.”

Amara sighs. The self-sacrificing fool, yet he’s correct that some of those people are truly innocent. Innocents that God is using to hurt anyone who might still care for them. She kneels down next to Rafael. “I haven’t attempted prayer in far too long. Tell me how to reach the people you want to, and I will give them as much hope as I can.”

Rafael recoils from her. His eyes wide and terrified. “I thought you disapproved.”

“You thought correctly. I do not approve of your method, but I understand your reasons. There are no words I could speak that would get you up off your knees. No words to stop the bleeding from your hands. No force to recall the magic that you have expended on this. The only way I can help you right now, is to assist you in this insanity.”

“Also, your only way you can currently think of to prove your love.”

“That too.”

“You don’t have to pray, auntie. You can reach through me. I trust you enough to let you in.”

Amara smiles and places a hand on his arm. As he wishes in this instance. Her magic flows through them both, and where pain had graced him from God’s will confining him, her power allowed his message to reach all without a hint of that pain. Her magic glides through his. He has spent far too much time being complacent. She’s ready to make him choke on his own arrogance. 

Rafael gasps as he realizes that all the people he had been fighting to make sure had a choice, now knew of the choices. God couldn’t alter the words given to them. He could trmattery to twist them, but Rafael had done what he could. He pitches forward and lets his body collapse on the ground. “I’m tired.”

“Then, sleep. I can carry you to your bedroom with little effort, and nothing more must happen tonight.”

“If I close my eyes, I will see her turning to ask Dean whether he did still claim the demon who would spit in his face as a child. I will watch him nod, broken eyes, knowing that God will kill his child. And, I will watch her step outside our gates of protection to make sure that his child got to safety. If I close my eyes, auntie, I will remember that he was willing to kill his grandchildren while his children wept, and that one human was all that stood between us and breaking.”

“Yes. Those are the things that you will see when you close your eyes, but do you want to know something, my healer,” she poses the question. She doesn’t actually care for his answer. This time, she needs to say the words that were on her mind no matter what his wishes on the matter were. 

“See, my healer. I will see a good mother asking her son whether he will be a decent father. I will watch her make sure that the son she raised really is one of the best humans this world will ever have to offer. I will see a young man turn to look at Lucifer with true love in his eyes, through the tears. I will see that man agree to take a child that he has no reason to love. I will see the love in his eyes, unconditional and unstoppable, and I will remember a parent’s love. Then, I will watch the good mother step into her own death, so that her children may live. And, I will watch God realize he’s lost. Because, Rafael, he lost that battle. He lost because Ellen Harvelle walked out of hell. He lost because this side had someone willing to die for someone who had not yet agreed to the family terms. He lost.”

Rafael turns and buries himself in her chest. “What if that’s not enough?”

“It will never be enough to dull the pain, my healer. But eventually, it will be enough to be starting healing from.”

He nods. Then, he slouches further. “Will you carry me to bed?”

Amara stands with his body floating in her arms. The magic surrounding them both. This she could do all day. She wishes this was all she needed to do for her nephews instead of tearing down their abusive father. The world would be a much nicer place, if this was all she needed to do was tuck in little angels to protect them from nightmares. Too bad that world is a fantasy land. 

“We’ll get there someday. Where we’ve won, and you can come visit all of us wherever we end up. You’ll see Lucifer’s children grow. You’ll watch him fall more in love each day. You’ll watch me become what God should have been. You’ll watch Gabriel and Sam try to be normal every couple of months before falling into chaos. And you’ll watch Michael live for once in his life without someone telling him to.”

Amara keeps walking towards his bedroom. Not willing to set him down for this conversation. “I was not aware you had become a seer during are time apart.”

“I’m not. That’s called hope.”

Amara sets him down on his bed with a soft smile. “Indeed. That’s a good reason to have hope. Sleep well.” She leaves before she collapsed just like him into tears for the life they should have. Instead, she has a war to win in order to give them that life.

She moves out of the rom and tilts her head. She recognizes Adam from the many times that he’s ended up in the situation, but she can’t honestly tell what he wants right now. She’s not even sure whether she was expecting to see him or not. “Hello, Adam.”

“Hello, Amara. I was curious on whether Crowley was telling the truth when he said you did come straight here. Thank you.”

Amara blinks. “You’re welcome. Although, if I’m being honest, I don’t truly understand what I’m being thanked for.”

“You came. You didn’t have to. You are of the same power level as God, you could have tricked Dean into releasing you and then left. You could have chosen to come and deal with God but not deal with family. There were many other paths you could have chosen, Amara. I am thanking you for choosing the one you did.”

“Who are you,” she asks softly. She doesn’t remember him ever being so perspective in any other life, nor even in this one.

“I am Lucifer’s not quite child, the last prince of hell to be formed. He had to teach me how to become a demon in a time crunch, and I have to admit that I did it in a way that even he wasn’t really expecting. I’m not violent, but I believe in a justice system.”

Amara nods. “Well, if you’re planning on thanking me every time, I choose my family, you might run out of words. I won’t leave them.”

Adam glances up to the ceiling of hell. “Then, you’ll get along well in the family.” He pauses to stare at her. “Your grandchildren are both nervous and excited to meet you. They’re waiting.”

“I’m not quite ready to meet them yet, I have two people I need to see first.”

“Your choice. You could always change your mind,” he offers as he walks past her. 

Amara blinks again. She can barely understand him. He phrases things as a seer would. That would be interesting, if Lucifer accidently created a seer right before declaring war on God. Also, that would be something that would happen, so she should probably look for other clues that suggest the same thing when he’s in a room to try to prepare for whatever comes next. 

Her feet carry her to where Jo is sitting in the middle of an empty room. A room she knows used to belong to Ellen. “Jo,” she calls.

“Are you the goddess that everyone was talking about earlier? No one really ever gave a description, so I’m afraid I can’t recognize you on sight.”

“I am Amara, and goddess is one of my titles, so I would expect yes, I am the one you are referring to.”

Jo nods. She picks herself up and dusts off anything on her clothes and bows. “Welcome to hell, my lady, my goddess. You are always welcome in my halls, in my home. You will have my support any time you call on me. I would prefer if you did not have a job for me, to be alone.”

“What?”

“I am the guardian of the princes and princesses of hell. I am the solider that everyone used to think that Michael and Dean were. I will follow commands. I will stand for those I believe in, but right now I don’t believe in much of anything outside of my family. You are somehow a part of this messed up family, so I will follow you. But, I have nothing left to give outside of that.”

Amara steps forward and raises an arm. She won’t force the human girl to come to her, but she’ll leave the offer open for the duration of their conversation. That’s about the most that she can do. “You have more strength than you know. You will get through this.”

“I’ll get through the fact that my mother gave a mother’s sacrifice for someone who was not me, who was not her actual child, while leaving her actual child to be left behind.”

Amara shrugs slowly. She can’t really fix the problems that the girl is actually worried about. She can’t save someone from the past. She can’t reverse time. And, she can’t revive the dead. “What else would there be to do? Give up, you mother would never want that. Let God kill you to dry to save the rest of us, I would stop you.”

Jo chuckles. There was no happiness in her laugh. There was no true feelings in it either. It kind of seems just as broken as she feels, so she supposes that is fitting. “Then, I suppose you’re right. I’ll get through this. I’ll defend your grandchildren in battle. I’ll fight for you. Now, give me orders or get out of my room.”

“Where are your lovers?”

“One of them is hiding with the rest of her siblings scared of you. And the other is doing her best to ensure that what my mother died for will not go to the wastelands just because all of its fighters have given up hope.”

Amara nods. “I could stay until one of them comes here, if you wanted.”

“I would rather go stare at my mother’s dead body. I have no need for false comforts. I have no desire to with the fact that you are probably equally sad for my loss and happy for your gain. I do not blame you, but nor do I want to look at you,” Jo snaps. 

Amara inclines her head and walks out of the room. She never would have thought that people like Jo would cause her to doubt her own mind, but they’re the ones that seemingly never give up. She wasn’t even truly upset when Amara said she couldn’t.

Her feet carry her to Michael’s location. At least he’s no longer in court. She’s not sure that her presence wouldn’t send him into shock. She knocks. She knows him well enough to know that she could walk in, but she’s trying to be thoughtful of what they would want.

Michael waves a hand and the door blows open. His eyes meet hers. He can see the pain behind her eyes. He can feel the hidden tears in his eyes. “Hello, Aunt Amara.”

“Hello, my solider.”

Michael doesn’t look away. That’s what the old Michael would have done. He would have cowered under the weight of one of the few people who knew him well enough to know exactly why he was willing to fight. The Michael that Dean helped find wouldn’t look away. He’d take the anger as she deserved to give it.

Amara considers his way of staring at her. “It’s been far too long since the two of us were able to be in the same room as each other.”

“That I can and will take blame for.”

“Whatever for. We both know the true culprit is your father and failing that Lucifer’s. This particular tragedy is not yours to bear. This one belongs on far more people than you.”

Michael shakes his head. “We both know that of everyone there, I was the only one who could have told father no and had the strength and your will to stop him. We both know that Lucifer was still faithful to me and would have followed my lead.”

Amara huffs. “Did you think I came here to berate you? Did you think that Dean Winchester was wrong?”

“Given you have yet to allow me to take the blame, no. Do you want to curl up on my bed and for me tell you of the horrors that God has asked of me ever since I took his wings? Do you want to know my pain?”

“No. Or, I should say not right now. I need a level head when going after him. Hearing all of the ways that he hurt his children will not allow me to remain partial. I’d probably end up dooming this universe solely to watch him bleed out in front of me.”

Michael steps forward and wraps his arms around her. “I am glad that father didn’t order us to kill you.”

Amara returns his embrace as hesitantly as she can manage. None of them should greet her as an old friend, and yet Michael always was the heart and follower of every movement within this broken family. “I know that’s where you would have drawn the line, and so did he.”

“Who would have stopped? Because auntie, I love you, but at the time I had complete faith in him. I would have struck you down.”

“Gabriel would have been the first. He would have thrown down his blade. The sound would have snapped Lucifer far enough out of his delusions that he would have tossed his next to Gabriel and held him. He wouldn’t speak up for me, but he would hold your younger brother back from attacking God with his bare hands. Then, you would have turned to me. A perfect little solider ready to block the strike, and Rafael would have met you in the air. The clang of your swords would have shattered every inch of the planes of existence. We would have fallen into my domain, and in my domain your father would have been trapped.”

Michael swallows harshly. “So, I wouldn’t have yielded.”

Amara strokes his hair. “No, you wouldn’t have. But, I would never ask you to. I knew the day that I held you for the first time, that it wasn’t my place to save you.”

“Dean?”

Amara shakes her head. “He pushed,” she replies.

“Lucifer.”

“Aye. Only he could have saved you from God’s grasp, because God made it to where only Lucifer could reach everyone. Anyone else if he poured enough time into couldn’t be retrieved not even by me. Not even with all of the darkness impending could I break God’s hold. That’s why I was so sad when your father chose to try to break him.”

Michael can’t hide his tears. “I can’t bear to look, but tell me how many times did we kill each other? How many times did we fail to break the chain?”

“No. Until the day, you can bear to look yourself, you will never know. No one will ever give you a straight answer, do you know why?”

“Because we aren’t ready to hold that burden.”

Amara scoffs. “Lucifer did it in this one. He looked at every single realm you’ve lived through so far. And, he created a new path. One that I’ve never even considered. One where my knight loves my light. One where he forgives my solider. One where he retrieves my little one. One where he reminds my healer of family. He woke up, dear. Until you can do that, you will not remember. I could tell you a number 3,000 times and you’d know no more than what you do right now.”

Michael nods. “Is he okay? Rafael? I know that Ellen’s death shocked him.”

“He’ll get there one day. You all will. You’ve suffered a great tragedy. One that rests solely on your father’s head.”

Michael pulls away grudgingly. He knows where she must go next. “They are your grandchildren too. He taught them about Aunt Amara almost as much as he did God. They know you as another figure to potentially hate or potentially love. Dean probably swayed them closer to love.”

“That was before their grandmother died.”

Michael prods her out the door. “Give them a shot to speak before stammering some apology about their loss. They’ll all take that as a declaration of war.”

Amara nods and turns away from Michael. She almost turns back around to take him up on curling up and talking about the past. But, that’s not where she needs to be. She needs to meet the rest before she has to leave to face God. She needs them to know her in case the only solution is to kill both herself and God. 

She walks past Lucifer’s and Dean’s room. She could enter and hold the one angel that is truly scared of her still, but she knows that needs to come last for both of their sanities, he needs to come last. Because she has no idea whether she’s still going to be able to walk afterwards or whether she’s going to fade to some distant area for a while where she can recharge. Especially since as her knight, Dean can reach her even there to tell her if she’s needed. She doubts she’ll be needed so soon. 

Abbadon stands watch outside the door and quirks her lips up as she sees Amara. “Amara, do your prefer the honorific for grandmother or aunt.”

“Pardon?”

“Well, Lucifer and his brothers still call you aunt, even though you raised them as a mother would. However, I suppose you’ve never done anything dramatic to earn that title, unlike some people we know. So, I suppose I’m asking a more simple question. What would you like to be to us? Would you like to be a distant aunt? None of us would pressure you for more than you give if this is what you want. None of us would even think to question this.”

Amara blinks once, twice, thrice. Until the shock that settled over her shakes off. “I suppose I wouldn’t much care for that. I’ve had enough of being told to hide my affections for the ones that I would call my family. I think I’d much prefer to be your grandmother.”

Abbadon nods. Then, she looks down. “Dean says I am forgiven for my actions.”

Amara glances around surely there was someone else nearby that Abbadon was putting on a show for. Surely, she didn’t think that somehow Amara was going to judge her for something out in the past.

“You have the right as my grandmother to weigh in on that situation as well.”

“Why should I care? Not about you, I care about you as much as I can as a goddess, but about what you’ve done. They were actions taken. Not for the best reasons, but not for the worst. You aren’t the first to try to earn a father’s compassionate word. In fact, I’d argue you didn’t even cause half the pain some humans did when searching for that feeling. You certainly didn’t come close to Lucifer’s body count, and I’ll forgive him for every single action he did.”

“He was cursed,” Abbadon whispers. 

“Cursed? Maybe once he ruled hell, maybe while he tormented earth after me, but he had a body count before that. A good little solider, or at least he tried. He wasn’t actually good with the following of orders.”

“He doesn’t speak of those times.”

“I’d be surprised if he had much of a memory of them. God tried to limit the times where my influence was strongest on them. He doesn’t want them to remember me. To remember my teachings. Afterall, they often told the kids to rebel against God himself. Actually scratch that, they always said rebel. I don’t follow orders well either,” she explains. 

“So, you hold no grudge against me.”

“Nope. Neither does Dean. And I’m like 78% sure that Lucifer doesn’t blame you.”

“I’m surprised that’s the one that you doubt.”

“Lucifer has always been interesting. I’m not so sure that in blaming himself for failing as a father he hasn’t also put blame on you for your actions, so that he can take blame for raising you that way. That sounds precisely like what he’d do.”

Abbadon nods. “The rest of your grandchildren are inside this room in a massive cuddle pile. I don’t think any of them plan on moving.”

“Why aren’t you with them?”

“Someone needed to stand guard to make sure no one tried to ask the rulers a question about what to do. Because trust me, they’d probably slaughter the messenger and the sender if they get interrupted at mourning.”

Amara chuckles. “You’re mourning too.”

“No, I’m not. For some reason, I know this wasn’t the end of Ellen Harvelle. Not even God can drop a soul from existence. The reapers can because he made them capable of that with your help, but last I checked the reapers didn’t follow his commands.”

Amara tilts her head. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up, my dear. False hopes are absolutely terrible to deal with.”

Abbadon shrugs. “If I’m wrong, I will mourn later once the rest of you are better and then you can hold me while I collapse. For now, I’ll hold the ground as needed.”

Amara steps around Abbadon. This particular point won’t be driven home until the girl could prove beyond a doubt that Ellen was nowhere to be found, and she didn’t have the energy to go searching for the energy of the recently deceased. Not even Dean could convince her to go looking into that pit of darkness on a whim. There are no worse fates than to go rummaging around in the nothing. The nothing often has opinions of nothing of import and yet believe in the importance of said nothing. 

The first thing she notices as she steps into the room is that Asmodeus sits upright while the rest our curled up on each other. He’s the only one who sees her enter the room. He’s the only one who meets her eyes. And he’s the first one to divert his gaze. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? Why do you and your siblings keep trying to apologize to me? You’ve done nothing to me and anything else can be taken you with your father’s who I believe have informed you that it is understandable.”

“I got someone they all loved killed.”

“God got someone they all loved killed. He used you to do it. You were a tool, nothing more.”

Asmodeus flinches under those words. 

“Try to be a bit nicer. He’s fragile,” Azazel snaps from where he lies. 

“Oh, get up, Azazel. Defend your brother if you want, but don’t take that tone with me while you’re not even looking at me.”

Azazel rolls onto his side and pushes up until he can meet her eyes head on. He burns under his skin, waiting for a fight. He wants one more than anything, and she might actually be able to give him such a fight. She might even be willing to give him such a fight. “He’s fragile. Didn’t know that Dean would be the father all of us craved. Or that Lucifer was trying to be the father that loves us.”

“No one knew that. Not even I could have seen that coming. That one was your father and Dean Winchester breaking the known universe. Again.”

“This isn’t the first time,” Dagon asks softly. 

“This isn’t even in the first one hundred times that Dean or Lucifer has cast the universe so far out of swing that no one can even tell what’s happening anymore. This is the most successful, at least by my definition. God probably thinks this as a failure of epic proportions.”

Ramiel opens his eyes although he doesn’t move. “Nice to meet you, grandmother.”

Amara tilts her head. “Could you hear or did you divine that information?”

“Stopped caring about the difference a long time ago. I know, and that’s enough. Are you doing alright?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Dagon exchanges a worried glance with her brothers over her shoulders. “Grandmother, you’ve been released from a cage that housed you for over a millennium if all the stories are correct. You’ve been isolated for that long as well, and now that you’re free most of the people that you’d like to be near and here what the world has done for have just lost someone they love. So, are you alright?”

“I’m not human.”

“Good for you,” Azazel drawls as he stands up. “Last time I checked no one in this room was human. Unless somehow one of Dagon’s lovers got in.”

Dagon shakes her head.

Azazel walks over to Amara and grabs hold of her wrist softly. He pulls her towards the bed. “Tell us a story before you have to leave and go talk to someone else. Let us give you comfort, and give us the comfort as well. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“We all get ripped from existence as God decides to challenge me in my domain,” Amara answers without thinking.

Ramiel blinks. “Is there anything we can do to protect us from that? Is that likely to happen?”

“Sorry, I’m not used to people being able to hear what I say, so I started saying all my thoughts out loud. No, it’s not likely, nor is there much we can do if he decides to try that. The main thing that would keep him from wanting to go down that path is once he starts down that path, then he has to end up in my domain while creating something new, and he’s scared of my power and my anger.”

Azazel finally crawls back on the bed and pulls her down with him. 

Amara goes willing into the embrace that he offers. They don’t want anything from her. Well, they want a story, but somehow that doesn’t feel like a price of laying here, it’s just a simple request. She breathes in and out for long moments. 

“Once, when the skies were still dark and the planets had yet to exist. There were two beings. Siblings with each other, who loved each other in the way that things with infinite power and time can love. Slowly, one wanted to create while the other wanted to destroy. They agreed that one would create and the other would never destroy it all, only parts as it amused them. They thought it was genius.”

“Did they have names?” Dagon asks softly. 

Amara smiles. She forgot how much she loved to tell stories to the small ones that she loved. How she could rest with the archangels curled around her and tell them of different paths. She misses that, this is enough. “No, they don’t get names for a long time, until the first child. See, the brother, the one who creates wanted other creatures that they could talk to. The first one was created in his image. He was given the name Michael, and he named us. He called me Amara, I never did figure out why. And, he called the brother, father for a time. But, the brother didn’t like the familiarity that title gave, so he requested to be called, God.”

Ramiel lets tears fall from his eyes. “That must have hurt Michael.”

“On the contrary, Michael didn’t even blink. He followed requests as if they were his life mission. He wanted everyone to be so proud of him, so he followed every single request ever made. Also, why Amara never asked him for anything. He added the honorific aunt at some point, and she clapped. He would ask for stories and she would give them.”

“Why does Michael now look so terrified?” Asmodeus asks. 

Amara sighs. “I suppose that might be for many reasons. He regrets that he wanted to make God proud enough to hurt the people who already loved him. He holds himself responsible for every moment that God gets away with hurting people. Yet, he has come to the conclusion that the people who love him have already written all of this off as a necessary thing to forgive.”

Asmodeus nods. “Just like me.”

Amara leans over and pushes her hand through his hair. The comfort the action gives her is surprising, but she doesn’t let go. “Yes. Of all your uncles, Michael would understand you best. He’d probably give you some advice on how to try to make up for the things that cause you guilt.”

Azazel smiles. “Do you feel better?”

“Yes, stubborn child. You are clearly your father’s son. Neither one of you ever let me get away with hiding behind my power as an outlet.”

“I’m choosing to take that as a compliment.”

Amara shakes her head. “Speaking of your father, I need to go find him.”

“He’s with Dean in their room,” Dagon whispers. “Dean will probably leave quietly once you arrive. Lucifer might claim he wants Dean there for support, but we all know that he needs to do this with you alone. We all know that he holds way too much guilt over you.”

“Yes, well God made sure that Lucifer suffered every second since I left. If I have nothing else to fight him for, I’d take him down for that alone.”

Amara leaves there embrace. Despite the fact she doesn’t want to leave them. Despite the fact that she wishes she could just wrap herself up in their arms and leave the rest for a different day. She makes her way to Dean’s room. She can feel his presence so clearly that she wonders for a moment whether God could feel the archangels in the same way, but she dismisses the thought quickly because if he could and still put them through this much pain, she might actually lose all of her marbles.

She enters the room silently.

Dean’s head pops up from where it had been leaning on Lucifer’s shoulder. He smiles at her with all the glow of someone who knows that what’s about to happen has been overdo for far too long. “Hello, my lady.”

“Hello, my knight. It is good to see you again, my light.”

Lucifer’s head jerks back as if his whole body wants to flee just from the name alone. 

Amara bites down on her tongue to keep herself from actually snapping at him. Part of her wants to remind him that if she wanted him in pain, then he would be in pain. His power was nothing compared to hers. Nothing compared to God’s. They could both dish out more pain with a word than with magic. And, Lucifer had gotten so used to that. 

Dean slips out of Lucifer’s hold. He catches Lucifer’s eyes. “You know how to call out to me. If you want me to come back and not leave you alone for this conversation, call me.” Then, he walks out of the room, squeezing her shoulder as he passes.

Lucifer gulps back the plea for him to stay. “Lady Amara, it is good to see you free amongst us once more,” he chokes out.

Amara closes her eyes. She reaches for Dean’s emotions. She pulls his calm back over herself. She knows that will leave him with way too much of her panic right now, but if she held onto it, she’d probably end up hurting his husband, so she doubts that Dean will mind. “Lucifer, why in all of the kingdoms ever built are you calling me by my title?”

“Because I lost the right to your more familiar titles years ago, and I will not take liberties because of our past relations in order to escape the justice you deem necessary.”

“May the darkness save me from fools and idiots. Lucifer, you never did anything that would make me less of your aunt. There is nothing you could do that would make you less than my nephew. That’s how family works.”

“Is it?” he yells. “Because last time I checked the man who created me, lied to me to get me to hurt the one person who did love me. Don’t forget that he put your torture on me, so that I could feel just what would happen, and I went crazy. I couldn’t handle it. I perverted your power.”

Amara lets out a deep breath. Finally, he’s releasing some of that anger. “Yes.”

“What?”

“Yes, that’s how it works. Just because your father is the worst type of scum to ever exist and that says something given who I am, doesn’t mean that family doesn’t work like this. That just means that God is human shit that we need to carry out. And, the perversion of my magic was because I was too weak still to protect you from the consequences of holding back power that demands to be free. That’s not on you, and not on me. That’s back of God.”

“You called your brother scum,” Lucifer states. His eyes are wide. His body still tense as all hell.

“Is there a better way to describe his absolute bullshit?”

Lucifer gulps down his spit. “I suppose not. But, aunt Amara, please, don’t try to make me feel better before sentencing me. Just let me take the punishment first.”

Amara crosses over the room to pull him into her arms. She doesn’t let his body move, she keeps it confined within her arms. “You want to know what your punishment is for helping your father hurt me?”

“Please.”

“Your punishment was having to live without me for however long it took for you to figure out that this wasn’t the side of the fight you wanted to be on.”

Lucifer twists in her arms until he can stare at her. He opens his mouth, but he can’t get the words to form. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. He was supposed to suffer. He was supposed to have to beg for a chance to prove he’d be a better nephew. 

“I was with your children earlier. Asmodeus was asking for forgiveness as was Abbadon. I can see where they get that from. Looks like their father never bothered to remind them that their Aunt Amara couldn’t care less.”

“You should. After this much time, you should have grown hatred for me.”

“There are no actions that would have made that the ending of this story. Not a single one.”

“I missed you.”

Amara tightens her grip. “And I you, my light. Next time, don’t make your husband wait.”

Lucifer sobs out his relief and buries his head into the crook of her neck. “There won’t be a next time. I know better.”


	55. The Return #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The angels have a part to play in this story as well. Especially since one is in love with a demon, and he has a plan. Well, not really a plan, but he's got some actions to take.

Castiel was running through heaven. God truly believed that any and all angels here were still loyal to him, which is the only way any of them were going to make it out. The only problem, is that if they try to fly to hell, they wouldn’t get past the wards. They couldn’t actually convince any of the archangels to help without putting them at a heavier risk. 

Normally, this would be a perfect time to call the game. This would be when Castiel gives up, and just curls up into a ball and cries for the terrible things happening all around him. But, somehow he remembered. There is one other way for an angel to reach hell. They could fall. If they chose to fall, if they broke their wings and leapt from the heavens. Well, God couldn’t do anything. 

The very thought still terrifies him though. He’s never even dreamed of being powerful enough. And the few angels who were willing to try to side with someone other than god weren’t willing to injure themselves that far. Well, no one other than him. He wants to fall. He wants to fight for the right reasons, not just for the right person. He can still feel the call of Rafael lingering on his skin. He can still hear the words echoing in the darkness. He can still remember every word that was spoken. 

A soft female voice that could break through the protections of God. Simple words. “Fellow angels, I know you have not been told the truth, and I do not have the time to explain the truth to you. But, please know that if any of you have doubts on the side that you stand on that hell will take you. There is another side to this war, and you are welcome.”

Even now when God had struck first, they were offering sanctuary. They were offering anyone who wanted a different path an option. They were willing to give everyone a second chance. That doesn’t happening often, and most angels could tell you from personal experience that their side was not that forgiving to mistakes. 

Maybe that’s why Castiel finds himself walking through the rooms of the souls in heaven. God hadn’t wanted his victim to be allowed a piece of the chess board by giving her to the reapers, so he brought her to heaven where she couldn’t escape. 

Castiel knocks on her door. He’s expecting anger, maybe even a punch. What he’s not expecting is a blanket silence. He can’t seem to get a reaction until he opens the door, and even then, all he gets is her raised eyes. He can tell she recognizes him, but she offers no words.

Castiel swallows hard and hopes this wasn’t a mistake. He really can’t afford to be making any more mistakes as he tries to patch together the chaos that seems to follow him no matter where he goes. “Ellen, I don’t know if you remember me well. My name is Castiel, I was at your son’s wedding. I came even though some people thought it would be a mistake. And, I tried to remain in contact with Azazel, your grandson. I wanted to be better than just believing that every single person from hell was evil, and I’d like to think I was correct.”

Ellen lets out a hollow laugh. She can’t help herself. She’s trapped in heaven and the first soul she meets is someone trying to figure out what this world is. That’s not ironic that’s bloody insane. “You’d like to think a lot of things, little angel. You should be cautious. I’ve heard your god might have a vicious streak, like denying a soul the right to at least have death with the people they love.”

“Well, yes. That’s why you’re here.” Castiel casts his eyes to the side to make sure that none of the other angels were coming up to him. “I’m pretty sure its also why I am here. I do not believe my god has my best interests or humanities best interests at heart. I think that now would be a good time to abandon ship, but if we leave right now, we will be seen by him and we’ll bring war on hell.”

“And you do not wish to be responsible,” Ellen finishes. Her eyes almost show a light, but then she’s back to feeling hollow. “What do you want from me? Do you want me to tell you what to do? Do you want my story to try to find answers that you’ll be looking for, for the rest of your life?”

“I would like you to come with me to hell, through a path that will not allow him to attack hell today. I would like you to assist me in getting to hell. I don’t need you to tell me what to do. I’m afraid I’ve pieced that together myself even though it terrifies me. I’ve found my answers, and they’ve informed me that I am in fact evil. Lucifer wasn’t. Michael might have been. But, I swung that sword long enough that I know how much blood is on my hands. I will not place being on the wrong side of this war on my hands. I will fight for humanity. I will fight for the archangels, hell, and any other thing that those who are better than me tell me we should be fighting. But, I cannot get to hell alone,” he explains. 

Ellen looks at Castiel with a mixture of pity and contempt in her eyes. How dare he try to give her false hope? Or how broken has god made them if they believe that this is somehow better than what was? “I am dead, you can’t use me.”

“I think I can. I’m pretty sure an angel can carry a soul just as much as God can. I’m pretty sure that I can sneak you to the edge of heaven. All you need to do is say yes to breaking my wings.”

“What?”

“We can’t get to hell in the traditional ways. Not without God noticing and choosing to hurt us. Not without potentially being stopped before we get there, where you have to suffer away from your family, and where I have no choice but to die or fight for the wrong side of a battle. Neither one of which either of us want.”

“You’re planning on falling. You’re planning on becoming the second ever angel to fall, in order to join the correct side of this fight. And, you plan on dragging my soul with you to get me back to my family, even in the limited state that I will be.”

Castiel smiles. “Now, you’re on the same page as me.”

“Why?”

Castiel shrugs. “I was trying to be good. This whole time I was fighting for the right reasons, but with the worst actions. I just didn’t know there were such things as horrible actions when they’d been condoned by God. I didn’t know what love was until your grandson stood by me at a wedding and told me about a better path. I didn’t know what having faith was until I helped Azazel reconnect with his siblings, in a fashion that I know full well hurt God’s plans. And, I didn’t know what family was until I suggested that Azazel ask Dean about the invitation only to hear the answer when I looked. Why am I doing this? Because the people who showed me what the morally correct path was are your family. Because, I’m pretty sure that all of me loves Azazel.”

Ellen pushes off her empty cell. Her hands brush off her non-existent clothes, and she grins. “Well, if bringing his grandmother back doesn’t get you a date, I’ll probably laugh. Plus, I think you might be welcomed into the family for this one.”

“I’m not doing this for that.”

“No, you’re not. Which makes you a decent person, angel. Good job. But this is a reward, not one that I’m giving, and not one that you should count on. But a reward all the same. That’s what happens when you start doing the right thing. Eventually, you get thanked. Eventually, you go down in history as someone amazing,” Ellen explains. 

Ellen pauses at the edge of the door. “How many other angels are up here trying, but too scared to leave?”

“They won’t fall, Ellen. There’s too much pain.”

Ellen stares at the sky for a moment. “Most of the pain comes after you land. I mean there’s a decent amount in the fall itself, but none of them want to live with the pain is what you meant, right?”

Castiel nods. “I’m scared myself. But this is worth it, Ellen. I need you to know that.”

Ellen runs her tongue across her lips, and she shakes her head. She has no reason to do this. She could let them run away. She could embrace that this isn’t one of the fights that she should be trying to encourage. Instead, she stands up just a bit straighter. She’ll bring down more people. She’ll try to save more souls. Damn her, she won’t let her death be her last good deed. “Take me to them. Let me try to save them.”

“Who are you?” he asks in bafflement. 

“I am Ellen Harvelle. Mother to the kings of hell, loyal defendant of its borders, and worshipper of the alternate God, the darkness, Amara. And, I will not let God killing me be the last thing I do on this world. I will make sure he knows my name. Get me to the angels, Castiel, at least the ones questioning.”

Castiel nods once. He doesn’t usually argue with determined people who are standing over him. And, he certainly wants to save these angels, and for some reason Ellen thinks she can do something. So, he leads her through secret passages in heaven to the little haven, the could-be rebels were staying. None of them would fight until absolutely ordered into war. 

Ellen walks straight even as she sees the angels turn to her. She gets to the very center of the room and lets her eyes roam. Only a hundred, yet that’s a hundred that could have been on the opposing side. These could be the ones that hurt others. “Do you all know me?”

Angels slowly nod. One even braves to look her in the eyes and answer. “You’re Ellen, the queen mother of hell.”

Ellen snorts. That title has never been used on her before not in all of the depths of hell that they were talking about. This was going to be even more insane. “Not untrue. I am that, although I don’t usually think of myself as that. I’m a human who was willing to die for my family. I was a human who was willing to stand up to God. You’re all angels, and yet Castiel tells me that you’re all standing up here too afraid to leave.”

“The only way to leave is to fall. Is to suffer for eternity, in order to leave. None of us want to fight the archangels, the ones who held us in the dark. But, what else is there,” a female angels calls with tears streaming down her cheeks. 

“Eternal pain. Eternal pain is not what you’ll get from falling. You’ll get pain, make no mistake. Not even God could stop that pain, that’s the price of be willing to fall. However, what will happen after is not pain. Because those archangels that held you in the dark are there. They will come for you again. They will help you heal, they’ll teach you how to stand. And, if they can’t heal it alone, we have a goddess of our own. We have someone just as powerful as God. They’re just biding time.”

“You can’t know that we’ll be healed.”

Castiel offers her a sad smile, because they’re right. Ellen has no right to call on the oaths. No one but an archangel could swear the oath that she’s making.

Ellen purses her lips. “Castiel, why are you willing to fall?”

“Some things are worth suffering for,” he answers. 

“No, who called to you. Who told you that there was still a chance?”

“Rafael,” the female angels shouts. “He prayed for us, through the pain of God.”

“If he was willing to suffer that pain, just to speak to you. Do you truly doubt that he would suffer double to see you healed? Do you truly claim you do not have faith in him? Can you look me in the eyes and say that?”

“That’s a risk.”

Ellen nods. She looks at their frightened faces, and she sighs. “Yes. There will always be a risk when you choose a side. There will always be a risk. In this case, your choice is stay and fight by God’s side and know that the people who care for you will be forced to try to drive you down. Because they won’t be able to back down, because God has already killed one person in their family, and they won’t let him get more. Or, you fall, and you have my word, I will try to convince every single one of them to heal you.”

Castiel glances over the assembled angels. “Just partner up. Break one’s wings first, then that one breaks yours, and you fall. Just walk over the edge. Once, we’re falling nothing can stop us until we reach hell.”

Slowly, angels partner up and find each other. Castiel remains behind. “Ellen, I still have to hold you as we fall, and I’d still prefer you to break my wings.”

“Get us to the edge of heaven, and I’ll help you.”

Ellen watches as each pair lines up on the brink of heaven. She watches in fear and hope as they start breaking each other’s wings. Holding each other as they sob through the first inklings of the pain. Her hands reach up to cup Castiel’s face first. “You listen to me, Castiel. On the off chance that your plan to get me there doesn’t work, I want you to know that I’ve accepted you as a member of this family, even if none of the others ever do.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Ellen steps behind him and places her hands on the center of his back and feels for the bone. She snaps it with all of her strength and can’t help but wondering whether this would have been easier for her daughter to do with all the lessons from the princes and princesses of hell. She snaps his second wing with her teeth gritted against his screams. 

Castiel picks her up in his arms the second that she’s done. The pain already calls to him to hesitate, but he knows that he can’t. “Follow me, siblings. Let me show you a better realm.”

Then, he falls. The fire covers him, and he screams. He can barely keep hold of Ellen, but she’s whispering to him through the pain. About random non-sensical things. That’s’ his last thought before the darkness takes him. That he might finally be worthy of something.


	56. The Partial Revival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellen lands back in hell with a horde of burning angels. Just what everyone thought would be happening.

Ellen can barely think. All she can smell is smoke, but the general air has brought a sense of calm to her, so she forces herself to stand up. A single demon stands in a room full of angels all screaming in agony. “Go get your king,” she hisses. 

“Which one?”

“Any of them. Any of the royal family. Get them here, now,” she commands. Now, she regrets not letting Dean pull her in front of the court where her words would have had more power. None of their people need to know about her sacrifice. They don’t need to know just how much Ellen suffered so that they might live through this. No one needed to know that information other than herself. 

Slowly, Ellen lowers herself down. She’s dead and not dead at the same time, and that’s starting to get annoying especially with a hundred hurting angels all around her and no way to really help them. 

Eventually, she hears footsteps, and she jerks her head up to see Abbadon standing over them. 

Abbadon takes in the entire scene first. She doesn’t dare let her emotions take over. She will not break over the fact that the soul of her dead grandmother is once more in their domain. To do that would be to sob, and there were injured angels all around her. “Ellen, you might want to offer any explanation.”

“They wish to fight for the right side. I might have offered incentive. Please, we need archangels. We need healers.”

“You’re dead,” Abbadon points out.

Ellen rolls her eyes. Of all the confounding stupid things to say. “Yes, I am. They, however, are not. So?”

“Ellen?” Lucifer yells, then his eyes register the number of fallen angels in the room. “Auntie,” he pleads. 

Amara appears out of the thin air to stare at him for a long moment. “I am here. What do you need?”

“Help me start healing angels.”

“Shouldn’t we call the rest of your brothers, and your children?”

“We need answers. And, I will not interrogate them while they are still in this much pain. I remember too much from when this happened to me to ever wish this type of suffering on anyone. So, Abbadon, keep everyone else out. Don’t tell anyone what’s happening. I’ll tell everyone including family once I know.”

Abbadon meets Ellen’s eyes. “If you don’t let them know she’s here, they will actually hurt you.”

“Dean won’t let them,” Lucifer says calmly.

“Uhuh,” she says softly. “That’s because he’ll want first dibs at kicking your ass from here to the moon.”

Lucifer gulps slightly. He knows that keeping this from everyone will be incredibly terrible to them, but they’d all hurt if this turned out to be a trick by God. If this was just another test, then they didn’t all need to suffer. He could take the amount of pain this would cause himself and let the rest of them have whatever little bits of happiness that they can find. 

Abbadon stares at Lucifer for a long moment. “I’m telling Dean. I’ll keep the rest of them in the dark if papa says that he agrees with you. Otherwise, they’ll all know.”

Amara kneels down next to an angel and blocks out the bickering from daughter and father. Neither one of them have the right idea. Telling no one will spare them pain, telling everyone will cause panic. Telling some will lead to everyone. Telling no one will lead to chaos once it comes out. The best case scenario here would be to just contain everyone already here in here and leave the rest of the world on pause until they get things back under control.

“That’d draw God’s eye on the off chance this is Ellen actually managing to carry an squad of angels down into hell on her way home.”

“100 angels just fell from heaven,” she snaps. “Of course, God knows.”

Dean pushes open the door to stare at Lucifer. Then, his eyes turn and take in Ellen. His smile is wide and large. His eyes return to Lucifer and see hesitation. He shakes his head. “Heal, I’ll talk to Ellen.”

With that both Lucifer and Amara are off taking care of the angels one at a time. Lucifer doesn’t have the skills to actually patch up the broken wings, but he has the best experience in closing and putting out the fires of hell. So, they develop a system in which Lucifer takes care of the fire, then Amara comes in to try to heal the actual wounds. 

Dean sits down next to Ellen. His eyes are filled to the brim with tears, but he won’t let them fall. Not yet, not until he knows what’s happening. Because if this is a ghost, he’s going to have to salt and burn her bones. If this is a soul, then maybe she’s still here for real. Or if this is a soul, maybe god managed to corrupt her with all of the vast power at his disposal. “I would like you to be real.”

Ellen smiles at him. “But, you can’t trust that I am, nor should you. I can tell you that I’m a soul. You can reach out to me, and unlike a ghost you won’t feel cold. Also, I could walk through a salt circle. Granted, I don’t think you carry around salt anymore now that you’re a king, and you shouldn’t send anyone out right now.”

Dean huffs once. His hand falls to his pocket where he digs out a tiny container of salt. “This isn’t even enough to form a proper circle, but the presence makes me feel safer given my past. No one really has a problem with the fact I carry it. May I?”

Ellen holds out her arm, so he can pour the salt on her. If she was wrong and this was all a trick in her mind, and she was a ghost, this would burn. This would cause her just as much pain as all of the angels falling. Similar amounts of pain, she supposes.

Dean pours the salt on her arm, and he focuses on her expressions. Some ghosts managed to hold back their pain at salt. Some just flicker out of existence and the salt piles where they were in seconds instead of actually ever making contact with their skin. Yet, none of that happens. The little white speckles her skin as it lands on her arm without any pain.

Ellen lets out a breath. “Being dead hasn’t been fun. God dragged me to an isolated hole. He hadn’t figured out what he should do or could do with me in his power. He’d have more power if he left me alive, but that’s not the words that he bound himself to. Do you remember an angel at your wedding?”

“Yeah, Cas something or another. Azazel and him shared a dance, the angel also convince Azazel to come ask me for aid in regards to my other children,” Dean answers. 

“His name is Castiel. And, he’s in love with your son. Not just some part time nonsense that will fade over time, but full love. He was willing to sneak through heaven to find me, so that he could bring me home to Azazel, because he knew how much pain my death would have caused. He was willing to fall so that he would never have to fight on the opposite side of Azazel in the war.”

“So, Castiel is the one who got you here.”

“Yes. His arms are the ones that held me as we fell. His arms were strong enough to hold me even as he was lit on fire.”

Dean lets out a breath. “Explain the rest of the angels.”

“I was asking Castiel about his plan. He told me of a group of angels who knew that God’s side was the wrong side but were too scared to actually willing fall, because what if Lucifer turned them away. What if they had to live with the pain forever?”

Dean sighs. “A reasonable fear. The pain is overwhelming even for an archangel. A regular angel would probably prefer death.”

“Yeah.” Ellen reaches out and her hands falls through Dean’s, and she chokes back her sob. “So, I offered to speak to them. And, I told them just how bad everything would be if they fought on the wrong side. I told them that the blood would be on their hands no matter what they did. They questioned whether I’d live with the pain of falling, and I told them they wouldn’t have to. I told them about archangels, and kings with mercy and a god that actually cares. I told them about us,” she explains. 

Lucifer comes up behind her. “So, they fell. They fell because you stood in front of them and made them promises in my name. They fell because you offered them sanctuary. Despite the fact that you couldn’t know that I’d even trust you when you showed up.”

Ellen turns to meet Lucifer’s eyes. “I wasn’t banking on you. I expected you to be skeptical, and Dean to follow your request. I bet on the fact that once Azazel learned that Castiel was here, he’d come. That Azazel would hear Castiel out, and that he’d either convince you to give it a shot or break your orders for the angel that loves him.”

“Castiel really does love Azazel. Of all the universes, I’ve caught glimpses of, this one has to be the most insane. We’ve got archangels in love with mortals. Angels in love with demons. You should have bet on me. You should have known that I wouldn’t ask them to suffer when they took a leap of faith.”

Ellen shrugs. “Perhaps, part of me did. After all, I used your name.”

Lucifer glances over at the angels still waiting for Amara. Then, he stares at Ellen. “We shouldn’t let the others know about the many different angels until we have all of them healed and understand what they want to do during this war. Because if they want to just be refugees, that would be acceptable.”

“But, if you tell them before that decision has been made, some of the demons may see them as something that they aren’t and that would be bad both for you and the angels,” Ellen summarizes. 

“Yes. However, you deserve to go see your family. Go, make sure that your daughter is alright. Check on your grandchildren. Perhaps, you can help the newest with the fact that none of us blame him.”

Ellen glares at Lucifer. “Why is it that I’m picking up after your parenting fails?”

“Because you accepted me as your son that has the worst possible role models for the job of parenting, and while I’m trying to do better than those who raised me, the fact is that I’m not the best at making sure that my choices are correct.”

Dean smiles over at Lucifer. “If it makes you feel better, we have convinced him that we’re not angry. He just thinks we’re still hiding the blame that we need to place on his shoulders.”

Ellen rolls her eyes but stands up. “Alright, Dean are you coming with me?”  
\  
“Yes. Also, I’ll probably be making sure that you don’t mention the amount of angels that Amara is healing.”

“Why?” Amara calls out. “Lucifer has no skills that would be helpful here, and he could easily go with Ellen. You have all of my power coursing through you, and you might actually be helpful.”

“You didn’t mention that earlier!” 

“You were a bit busy reuniting with your dead mother-figure. I’m not going to interrupt such a moment.”

Dean shakes his head. “I do not believe that letting angels suffer while I catch up with a dead relative to be a fair trade.” Still, he moves next to Amara to watch what she’s doing. If he’s to mimic her healing, then he’s going to need to know the basics of how to heal. 

Amara opens the flood gates in between their readings, so that he can more easily see the magic she’s pulling from. The memory of her doing this time after time. The simple knowledge flowing as a river through their minds. 

Dean sighs as the knowledge rolls over his memories, making them almost feel as if they are his, if they weren’t tied to such a persuasive force, he might even believe that. Instead, he reaches for the magic inside of himself and reaches to the next angel. 

The bones knit together under his hands. The feathers slowly grow under his careful touch. The very essence of each angel comes to linger with his for a moment, and he knows that if he ever bothered to go looking for the specific ones that he healed, he could find them with nothing more than a stare at souls around him. 

He goes through about 20 angels, helping Amara finish healing all the ones that were there. 

One of them stares at him for a long moment before kneeling. “I heard that you may be one of our new kings. My lord, what would you have us do now that we are in your kingdom?”

“That is your decision to make. You could choose to become active citizens as most of the humans have, and you would be granted all the rights there of. You’d be expected to fight as a citizen. To work as a citizen, and to follow the laws of the nation. Or, you could ask to be refugees. There are still some laws that I would need to ask you to follow just so that you wouldn’t be a risk to my people, but you wouldn’t be asked to fight. You’d just be here until the storm blows over and we can get you back to heaven.”

“Is there a chance of that actually happening?”

Dean clicks his tongue against his teeth as he debates how best to answer that question, but the answer comes to his lips without any of his input. “Yes. We will win this war. We will win it for all the humans who don’t know they are pawns. We will win the war for all of the angels that God should have been talking to every day but didn’t. We will win it for every demon who was doomed from the start to a life on the edge. We will win for family and love and anything else that God forgot existed.”

“What if you fail?”

“We won’t,” Amara replies. “I am his sister, and he has sat without checks for too long, and he left too many powerful enemies.”

Castiel pushes himself up. “May we have time to discuss what we would like to do? May individuals choose one or the other rather than doing the group as a whole?”

Dean nods. Before he slips out of the room.


	57. The Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the family learn that Ellen is back.

Lucifer leads Ellen down the hallway and sends a wave out to Abbadon. “Please tell me you know where Jo is. She deserves to be the first person who knows now that we can easily allow Ellen out,” he thinks. 

“So, now you’re thinking about what should happen.” Abbadon’s annoyance filters through the bond with ease, yet underneath it is a distinct happiness. She knows that she willing would give all of this for Ellen to be home. “She’s with Charlie and Dagon in Dagon’s room. They’re trying to keep her from falling into the hole that sorrow brings. I didn’t tell any of them anything, and if that ever comes against my relationship with them, I will throw you under the bus.”

“I understand. I am sorry that I couldn’t let you go running to the people you love to tell them the truth, but that could have hurt them more.”

“Sometimes the pain of the truth hurts less than the pain of having something hidden from you.”

Lucifer furrows his brow as he continues moving Ellen through halls. He knows that she’s right, but he still believes that he made the right call. 

“You did make the right call, Lucifer,” Ellen says after a moment, proving that even after this much time, she knows precisely what he’s thinking, the same way that she would know what Jo would be thinking or Dean, or Sam. “But making the right call doesn’t always absolve you of the pain that choice causes, it just means that you had to do it regardless. 

“I think I might hate the fact that the world works like that.”

Ellen walks forward once they’re at the door and walks in. She’s not surprised that her daughter’s eyes were closed, with her body curled up into Dagon’s with Charlie’s arms wrapped around her. 

Charlie’s eyes are the only ones open. For a couple seconds, she just blinks rapidly. She really wishes she wasn’t hallucinating of a dead woman that happens to her lover’s mother. This was really not a great situation. “Dagon, I’m pretty sure I’ve lost my sanity. Please, open your eyes.”

“I swear Charlie, if this is another nightmare, I’m going to drag you over to my side of this bed and cuddle both of you,” Dagon snaps. Still, her eyes open and fall on Ellen. “You look good for being recently dead.”

“Just a soul, but at least I can still talk to you. All of you.”

At Ellen’s voice, Jo stirs. “Another dream. I can hear her voice far more clearly this time,” she mumbles into Dagon. 

“Alas, my dear, this time it isn’t a dream. Open your eyes.”

Jo opens her eyes. Then, she sees Ellen. She lunges over the chairs to pass straight through Ellen, where Lucifer’s arms catch her from falling down onto the hard ground. 

“Not quite alive, Jo. Her soul will rest for eternity here, she doesn’t even have the same abilities that a converted demon would have without us having to find a body for her.”

“Oh,” Jo breathes, then she turns to face Ellen again. “Hi, mom.”

“Hi, sweetheart.”

“You left me. You left me for a child that wasn’t yours. Two to be precise.”

“Three if you want to be specific,” Ellen confirms. 

Jo doesn’t bother hiding the tears streaming down her face. “I don’t blame you for it.”

“I never thought you would. You would have had every right to feel that way, but I knew you accepted my choices to make Dean a part of our family, then Sammy. And later when we all came to hell for a wedding that we were not prepared for, you accepted Lucifer and all his brothers.”

Dagon slips out of the bed and grabs a robe to cover her underwear. She grips Jo’s shoulder as she passes through the door. “I’ll go get the rest of the family.” She turns to Lucifer with a brittle smile on her face. “Which ones should I avoid because they already know?”

“Your sister and Dean.”

“Dean makes sense. He’s your husband, and if you knew he would. Why does Abbadon know?”

Lucifer rubs his forehead as he lowers Jo gently to the ground just in case one of them chooses to attack him after that. “She found them first, and unfortunately I had to ask her to keep it a secret until we confirmed that this was in fact Ellen and not some other spirit trying to take advantage of our grief. I did not want to raise the suspicions of hell or give our family false hope.”

Dagon nods. “Right, and if it would have given us some closure being able to see her again, even if we were forced to know that it wasn’t really her? That could have given us a being to push our grief into.”

“Then, I would have suffered your grief. I would have tried to help you in every way I could.”

“And, he would have known that you didn’t have to go through the pain of losing me twice, because that’s what would have happened,” Ellen adds.

“No offense, Ellen, but that sounds like something someone would say when they were just to scared to actually confront what would have happened if they did something else. That’s just an excuse, maybe a good one, but don’t expect us to be okay with it.”

With that Dagon walks out of the room. She has siblings to find. She had uncles to drag out of bed. Plus, a not quite grandfather to drag out of the bottle, so that he could see the person that he was drinking for.

Jo laughs as she takes in her mother once more. “Don’t worry, I will sooth the tensions with Dagon. She missed you as well.”

Ellen smiles at her daughter. “I had no doubt that you would help me sooth any tensions that arise while I am realized as once more as part of the living.”

Foots bound across the hall as Sam skids to a halt before the door. “Don’t worry, Ellen. Dean, Bobby, and I were not thinking straight when you passed. We will make sure you get a proper service to allow your spirit to rest.”

“Yippee. That’ll do absolutely nothing, Sam. This is my spirit. You forget that you now live in one of the realms that can hold both the living and the dead souls. I am at peace, and I am here. Surely, those two things aligning brings you some happiness.”

Sam turns to look at Lucifer. “Nothing ever works like this for us. Never. This is a trap.”

“Then, let us fall into the trap and be happy for a moment, Sam. I have done all I can to ensure that I believe this to be her real soul with no tampers on it. Dean has done the same. Even Amara looked over her, so please tell me what more we can do. Or do you suggest we send her gift wrapped back to heaven as a cease fire.”

Jo leans into Lucifer. Her weight forces him to stop speaking so that he can better hold his grip on her. He won’t let her fall today. “Be calm, Lucifer. Sam is merely being Sam. He worries, Dean plots, and I fight. That’s the way of the world.”

“Grandmother,” Azazel says as he rounds a corner. He pulls out a flourishing bow as he smiles. “I apologize for the fact that I cannot currently hug you.”

“Not your fault, my dear. I believe that blame can lay on God’s hands or his head.”

“So blood thirsty. We’ll make a proper family member out of you yet.”

Asmodeus rounds the corner next, only he pauses right where he stands to stare in shock at the face before him. He falls to his knees to bend his head forward. “I’m sorry.”

“As I just told your brother, none of this is on any of you. We shall blame God for what he’s done to us, and we don’t need to worry about anything else. As far as the war goes, I’m hoping I just gave us an edge.”

Lucifer huffs out a breath. “If you did what you think you managed, I think you might have just changed the course of the war for the better, which knowing you was one of your goals.”

“I mean I didn’t really have goals other than don’t die for a while there. Even I’m not good enough to try to think that I would manage to survive death by God.”

Lucifer raises an eyebrow. “Like you didn’t start planning the moment you realized you still had brain power?”

Ramiel walks over and drapes an arm around Lucifer’s waist and squeezes Jo’s hand. “Who? Grandma Ellen? She wouldn’t stop planning even dead.”

“Not even going to say hi to me,” Ellen teases. 

“Nah. You already know that I love you and that you deserve the absolute best. Plus, the archangel trio are going to show up in a second to swarm you.”

“No swarming,” Michael snarks as he appears. He smiles at Ellen. “I am glad that he didn’t find a way to destroy your soul quite as quickly as I was afraid, he would.”

Gabriel comes running and he slides to the ground to clap. “The perfect family is back together. God couldn’t keep us apart in this universe. Come on, Ellen, tell us how awesome this is.”

“I’m dead,” she deadpans. 

“Dead and gone are two different things. You may be dead, but you aren’t gone.”

“Ignore my idiot brothers, Ellen. They’ve never known the proper response to any situation,” Rafael offers as he enters the room. He glances around and notices Dagon still missing. He turns his eyes to Lucifer in question. 

“I checked to make sure it was Ellen before letting her come get the rest of the family in the know, and Dagon is taking it a bit personally.”

“Understatement of the year,” Dagon calls as she drags Bobby closer until his eyes catch on Ellen.

“They weren’t pulling a nasty prank. You’re really home.”

Ellen nods. 

Dean sighs as he drags himself closer to the family. “And, we may have an army of angels trying to decide whether to fight in the war or to abstain.”

Lucifer snaps his head to stare at Dean. 

“Don’t worry. They aren’t going to cause problems. They’re going to listen to the monarchs of hell out of respect for Ellen, and we’re going to use that for as long as we have to put them up for until the war is over,” Dean answers. 

Ellen licks her lips as she grins at Dean. “Also, Azazel that reminds me. Your angel is the one who saved me, specifically for you.”

Azazel processes those words for exactly 23 seconds, before turning on his heel and sprinting out of the room.

Dean purses his lips. “I’ll put money on them ending the night in each other’s beds.”

Dagon stares at the direction Azazel ran off into with a curious expression. “I’ll raise you that they’ll be engaged by the end of the night.”

“Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, we now have a definite end for this fic. We are nearing the end of all of this. Hope all of you who are reading this are still enjoying the story.


	58. The Start of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azazel finds his angel and starts something beautiful.

Azazel keeps running before slowing down once he realizes that he’s just running in a random direction, because he doesn’t know where he’s running to. He knows who he’s running to, but not where. He lets out a desperate laugh as he realizes the sheer insanity of such a thing happening at a time like this. Surely, the fates wouldn’t be cruel enough o have him have to walk backwards to ask one of his fathers what is going on. 

Abbadon steps out of the corridor with a shake of her head. “Do you know how lucky you are that I figured you were going to book it out of that room with zero amounts of planning?”

“Lucky enough that you know where my angel is,” he replies with a grin on his face. 

“The big meeting hall that isn’t used for court.” Abbadon turns to leave before turning back to Azazel. “Will you give him my thanks as well?”

“Of course.” With that he’s running again, because his angel just defied God for him. Just fucking fell from heaven for him. He needs this angel to know just how much he loves him. Not only because of that. Well, that certainly made his emotions more clear. 

He bursts into the room to find a whole bunch of angels staring at him. He flushes down to his roots when he realizes that he probably should have checked that Castiel was alone. 

Amara looks at him knowingly. She shakes her head. “My grandson, if you are looking for Castiel, I sent him to your rooms so that the two of you could talk.”

“Thanks, Aunt Amara. I love you.”

Once more, Azazel is running through the halls. He has no idea whether or not all of the angels know that he’s in love with Castiel, but the idea of them knowing no longer bothers him as it once would have. He’s sure he would have once had an entire fit over the very possibility of someone knowing that he was capable of experiencing love. 

Castiel catches him as he bursts through the doors with a hug. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything before she died. I was debating whether I should try to buy you some time, but I couldn’t stand the idea of leaving behind all of the angels that were hesitant over what was happening.”

“Why on Earth are you apologizing? You got my grandmother back to me. You got me my family back to stabilized, and you brought us a part of God’s army. You’re amazing.”

Castiel pulls back. “No, I’m just a little angel that wasn’t very good at being a part of God’s grand plan, although I must admit that I am very happy that you aren’t upset.”

Azazel pauses then sinks down to his knees. “Castiel, I came to you with invitations and briefly mentioned wanting one of mine own, and you helped me find a way to do not only that, but also get a father. That was the day I looked at you as more than just an angel. I looked at you as a potential friend. Then, I offered you friendship in the form of a dance at the wedding. And, you took my hand. You didn’t even hesitate. You spent the whole night in my arms. Do you remember that?”

“Well, yes. I was so happy to be included, and you didn’t think that it was odd that an angel was present at that weddings without being directly related to either of the grooms. You even told me yourself that such things were glorious for people like us,” Castiel answers. Confused and worried. The demon prince shouldn’t be on his knees in front of someone like Castiel. 

Azazel tilts his head to smile up at the angel. “Then, I was sad. Because I had siblings that were still on the run from our father. I ran to you. I should have realized that I loved you then, because when I was falling down, I came to you. You told me how you would go about fixing the situation, and I got my siblings home. All of them. It took the death of my grandmother, but thanks to your guidance, I got my siblings home safe and sound. Then, when I was pretty positive there was nothing left that you could do, you fell from heaven, put yourself through the most pain an angel can handle. And why? To bring my grandmother’s soul home, and to give us the deserters from God’s army. There’s no force on this Earth that could still keep me from loving you.”

“But, I didn’t do any of that for you.”

“You didn’t?”

Castiel shook his head. “I gave you advice that first meeting because you had chosen to stand before a host of angels to offer them a chance to come to a wedding.”

“Was that not for me because of my actions?”

“Well yes, I suppose. But, then came the wedding. I didn’t hold on to your hand because I was accepting your friendship, I held onto your hand because I didn’t want to be alone.”

Azazel smiles up at him with laughter building in his chest. “Yet, you danced with me all through the night. You could have pulled away once I introduced you to the humans in attendance. You didn’t. You stayed by me, in my arms.”

“I wanted you to have your siblings because no one should have to know that their siblings were dying or in trouble and not be able to intervene. That one had no personal connection.”

“Oh, so you’ve made sure every separated set of siblings has had personalized advice for how to reunite?”

“No.”

“And even you can’t counter that you brought Ellen home for me.”

Castiel pouts. “When you put it that way, it certainly seems like I have been compromised. I don’t know what to do with that information.”

Azazel huffs out a breath that comes way closer to laughter than he was meaning it to. “Say yes to letting me kiss you. Say yes to letting me prove my love for you as you have constantly proven yours to me.”

“You are welcome to kiss me and to try to prove your love, but I have no doubt that one day you will realize that I am just a low level angel undeserving of you,” Castiel whispers. 

Azazel lunges up and captures Castiel’s lips in a heated kiss. He rises from his knees to allow his hands to roam Castiel’s body above the waist. He pulls back after a couple minutes. “Trust me, I will never realize that, because you are worth more than I ever will be.”

“Do we build a relationship based on the idea that the two of us are going to be constantly trying to convince the other that they deserve more love than they accept?”

Azazel laughs low in his throat. This time he doesn’t have to hide that laughter from anyone. Not Castiel, and no one lese who could see them right now would care about his humor. They’d be overjoyed that he was making a move and choosing to try to make this relationship more than what it had been before. “Only if you agree that we do that by showing each other more love, not trying to push them towards others.”

“I think perhaps, I can manage that rule if it wouldn’t bother you too much.” Castiel leans forward and initiates this kiss. This time he runs his tongue over Azazel’s lips, and Azazel slowly opens his mouth to allow Castiel to dominate the kiss entirely. 

Azazel pushes one hand up to comb through Castiel’s hair. They both have no need for air, so they slowly switch which one of them is in charge of the kiss. Azazel pulls back just enough to ask. “How far do you want to go?”

“I’ll tell you if I want to stop at some point.”

Azazel snorts but lowers his mouth down to Castiel’s neck to trail kisses down his neck and back up to meet his lips once more. 

Castiel growls slightly. And reaches around to hold Azazel’s thighs to pull them closer together. He starts moving backwards, not really sure where he’s going, but soon Azazel’s body is closed around his as he’s pressed up against a wall. 

Azazel nips Castiel’s lip as he pulls away once more. He lets one of his hands slip down to grab the edge of Castiel’s shirt. “Yes or no?”

“Yes.”

Azazel steps back letting go of Castiel’s shirt to grab his own. He gets it off in record time before returning to Castiel and shrugging his shirt off and out of the way. Then, they’re both exploring each other’s bodies. 

Castiel roams his hands down Azazel’s body wondering when the demon had time to get his body in such good shape. Most of the angels who spent most of their time in the garrison training didn’t actually keep such a nice form. 

Azazel for his part was trailing his lips further down to capture Castiel’s nipples. He’s not surprised when hands end up in his hair pulling at him. They aren’t really directing where he should go, just that he should continue. 

The moans coming out of his partners mouth spur Azazel on. He moves his attention to the other nipple and gets a nice reaction for his actions. He knows that of the two of them, he’s the more experienced party, and he’s more than happy to prove demonstrations of that. 

He trails the kisses down until he hits the waist band of Castiel’s pants. He pulls back to give Castiel that look again. The one where his eyes smolder and a smirk is on his lips. “Yes or no?”

Castiel yanks on Azazel’s hair. Not hard enough to cause any pain, but enough to get a slight gasp, which he’ll take as a success give the situation. “I swear if you stop, I might actually be upset.”

“Only you, angel,” Azazel replies. Still, he pulls down Castiel’s pants down and helps him step out of the pants. Then, his mouth is on Castiel’s cock. His lips spread around and humming. 

Castiel throws his head back against the wall as he gasps. He’s never felt pleasure like this. Such relations are discouraged from angels, because they are meant to avoid the possibility of having children. His hands still find his way to Azazel’s hair to comb through the locks. He can’t really decide what would be the best option to respond to the pleasure he’s receiving. Eventually, he’s going to bring Azazel this same amount of pleasure. 

Azazel swallows around Castiel’s cock, and he watches as Castiel comes undone. The cum shoots down his throat, and he swallows every drop as he reaches down to cup his own cock. His release follows pretty soon after. 

Castiel has a grin on his face as he looks down at Azazel. “You’ve got to teach me how to do that.”

“I think I can handle that burden. Although, we should probably wait until after the war to start getting too adventurous about such things,” Azazel murmurs back with his voice a bit rougher. 

Castiel hums in answer before cupping Azazel’s face. “But, you love me.”

“More each day. Because every single day I’ve known you, you’ve exceeded any and every expectation that I could possibly have.” 

Ellen knocks on the door already regretting every decision that led to her being the one to come get them instead of any of the corporal bodies, but then she’s probably the most supportive of anyone in the family. Well, Lucifer was happy for his son, but his suspicions about angels wasn’t going to get better overnight. And, Dean was happy for his son, but there was left over residual anger over the idea that some angel could earn Azazel’s love in less time than Dean did. Because Dean knows that without Castiel, he wouldn’t have any of his children and that upsets him in some fashion. 

Azazel gets them both dressed with a wave of his hand and opens the door with a grimace on his face. “Must we face the world already?”

“Unfortunately, grandson. The world waits for no man or demon or angel. Especially, when the world is currently on the verge of a full on war with God.”

Castiel huffs. “I have to go talk with the angels.”

“And Azazel needs to be seen with his siblings in the main ranks of the army. Amara thinks that a full offense would be a better plan than continuing to wait for him to make the next move. He’s dictated far too many of the movements so far,” Ellen confirms.


	59. The Preparations #4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have a war to fight, and this is their plan.

Lucifer stands in front of the angels tall and regal and wishing that he could be anywhere but here. He doesn’t want to stand in front of more people and ask them to fight. Still that’s the role that was handed to him, so he’ll have to do so anyway. “Angels, I understand that you came here because you do not believe that God is fighting this war for the right reasons. You are correct, he is not fighting this war for the right reasons. He is fighting this war for himself and his power.”

His eyes cut away to stare at his husband and the rest of the family members present. People that he loves that he may very well lose before they end this war. “You are welcome here without fighting. You are welcome to say that this is not your fight, and that you do not wish to join it. I cannot promise you that my side will win, so I cannot guarantee your safety even if you stay out of the battle. Still, I believe that it is important that you know that you have the option of staying out of this fight. However, if you do wish to fight, I need to know right now. Because we attack today.”

Castiel slips towards the front of his people. “I will fight, my king.”

Lucifer smiles. “Of that, Castiel, I had very few doubts.” He pauses to consider his next words. “If you will fight for us during this battle, please follow Castiel to the ranks of our armies.”

Slowly, anyone who is not part of the family has left the room. Most of them had followed Castiel, although a few faded away into the rooms that were provided for them. No one blames the ones that faded backwards into the safety of these halls for however long they have. War is not a fun experience, let alone a war that even your leaders aren’t sure that you can win. 

Amara holds the same hesitation as the rest of them. They could all be dead or imprisoned by the next coming of the sun. “The archangels and Dean will need to be with me. I will need them if I am to have a shot at actually overpowering God himself.”

“Since I don’t have a body, I won’t be able to join you on the battlefield,” Ellen says softly afterwards. 

“Nor, would we ask you to so shortly after having been killed.” Lucifer shakes his head. They didn’t really have time for sentiments, no matter how much he likes the fact that he can share them openly now without anyone feeling the need to give him shit about it. “We have four groups of ground soldiers, we have a ranged weapon group, and we have a magical attack group. Jo, you’re going to be the head general on the ground. I am relying on you to pass what is happening across all of the segments of the army. I’m trusting you to keep everyone on track and pushing the troops of God back.”

Jo nods. “I understand. I will make sure that none of your troops fall down.”

“Abbadon, you are the best at combat, but you also don’t do well in groups. So, don’t try to be in command. Just push wherever you see an opening. I’d prefer if you tried to keep yourself safe, but if that is too much to ask of you. At least make sure that you make it home.”

Abbadon curls her lips up into a smile with too many teeth. “Do not worry, father. They’d have a rough time keeping me down as long as I still have some amount of strength left, and they aren’t good enough to completely tear me down.”

Lucifer scoffs at his daughter. Only she would take a battle against God as a challenge for her to win and prove that her strength is more than anyone had seen before. “Bobby, I want you to lead the ranged weapon group. You should be able to keep up with them, and you have skills in all guns after how many monsters you hunted.”

“Aye,” Bobby replies. 

Lucifer turns to Sam. “I’d prefer not putting you in command because you are both human and young, but I also don’t want to outsource to outside of the family. While I trust Crowley, I don’t want to rely on him. So, you’ll be leading the second squad.”

Sam smiles. “I’ll do my best to make sure that the demons respect me, and that somehow as many as I can manage get home safe.”

Lucifer swallows hard. “Right, Dagon. You’re the best magic user,” he starts. 

“So, I’m leading the main magical attack group and your three sons are leading the other squads. Asmodeus will be on third squad, Azazel on the first squad, and Ramiel on the fourth squad,” Dagon interrupts. She doesn’t’ bother waiting for confirmation from her father. She knows that this time, she’s right. She’ll always be right when it comes to battles. Her father is predictable when it comes to where he will place his leaders. 

Dagon turns to Ramiel. “Can you lead a segment and handle the healing platoon that we’ll probably need?”

“Not easily, but I can. That’s the only easy way to make sure that we have a family member in every major position unless we take Jo in as a commander, but then the communication between squads will be up in the air.”

Jo licks her lips. “What if we took a page from the humans handbook? I run the fourth squad with Ramiel on healing, and we get Charlie to set up a communication link between all of the generals. The most trusted demons in the ranks we’re fighting know that if we go down, they’re to get that device and send the message and take the orders. Would that work better?”

Azazel purses his lips before nodding. “Probably. My kings?”

Dean looks up hearing the plural. He hadn’t been paying much attention to most of the battle plans because once they were made, none of them were going to have much to do with the ground fight. That was to keep God’s troops occupied while they took him on themselves, and that won’t be an easy fight to win. 

Lucifer barely manages not to face palm at the pure insanity of his children immediately picking up on the strategy and tossing ideas at each other as if this was ever going to work. “Maybe this will work, but if they target your communications what will you do?”

Charlie pokes her head into the room with a guilty expression. Dagon had been informing her of the plans the whole time. “No offense, King Lucifer, but they start targeting the communications, I’ll just have to get a bit more creative. Unless the wards around hell fail, I’ll keep them in contact with each other.”

Lucifer stares at the human with red hair and straight back. He can’t believe that this human is willing to defend herself from a demon, let alone when it comes to a battle plan for a war that might be crazy enough to cause most people to question their own sanity. “Alright, if you’re confident that you can keep them in touch with each other?”

Charlie smirks. “Well, I’m confident, and if I am wrong, you’ll likely be dead long before you can yell at me.”

Lucifer inclines his head. Slowly, all of the commanders go off to round up their squads and get everything in order. Tonight would be the final fight for quite a few of the demons, angels, and humans willing to fight in this battle. They had no guarantees to offer these people and even less that would be believed if they were offered. 

Amara stares at her nephews, the ones that only weren’t sons because of the way the world works. The ones that she was about to lead into a battle against the strongest being alive. Plus, Dean, the human turned knight of darkness who convinced the world to stand up in the first place. She clears her throat.

“I know most of you probably thought that you would be on the other sides of this war. I don’t blame you for that. God was your father, and if he was just slightly better at loving all of you, you probably would be on his side of this war. Part of me wants to remind you that he would never actually love you, but that’s not true. He could have loved you, and he chose not to. I did love you. I did my best to keep all of you alive. Now, we must go fight God, not because we are angry, not because of the pain that he has caused us in the past, and not because we want him to suffer. We must fight because if we do not he will continue to hurt not just us, but every other living soul on that he creates, and we will not abide that.”

Nods follow her declaration, so she leads them out. 

Meanwhile, Jo has rounded up all of the new angels, plus the demons and humans already assigned to her squad. They had agreed that they needed the angels to be led by a human not a demon just in case any heads decided to butt ways in the middle of battle. They also agreed that they shouldn’t be with Bobby or Sam because neither one of them were all that comfortable with demonic power plays that might come up that they need to deal with. That leaves her. 

She doesn’t mind the angels. She’s sure that they are going to give their all in this fight just as much as any of the others that were willing to be on the battlefield. Still, they hadn’t trained and that could get some of her people killed, and she wasn’t really willing to let that happen. 

“Castiel,” she calls. 

“Yes, Commander Jo.”

“Your men will operate in a subdivision of this squad, that way any differences in formation or defense don’t lead to anyone getting stranded.”

Castiel nods. “Of course.”

Jo turns to all of her men and women with a stern determination in her eyes. “Tonight, we will fight the armies of heaven with God trying to drag us down. We aren’t going to let him drag us down. He will try to tear us down, and we’re going to get right back up with our teeth bared. Some of us may die, but if we die, pull our bodies back and keep fighting. If we lose tonight, then all of this, everything that we have ever done has been for nothing. Don’t let what we’ve all stood for be for nothing. Stand for something. Stand for everything. But when the fight gets tough, stand up straighter and push them back,” she shouts. 

She gets shouts of encouragement back, and she only hopes that they win this battle. She only hopes that their hope in all of us wasn’t going to be in vain. 

On the other side of the hall, Sam was gathering up the second squad and debating whether or not an early defeat would get him out of the shitstorm of leading the most demon heavy squad that they have. \

Sam looks out over the demons and the humans in his squad, and he almost falls down in tears. He could be leading them all to a grave, yet he knows that he was to continue going. Because if they fail, the graves won’t be the last of the torture they will have to endure. 

“Listen, I know a lot of you don’t know me as anything but King Dean’s kid brother. And I want you all to know that I am more than just his brother. I was a hunter just like him before all of this. I know how to lead a battle, and hopefully I know how to win. I want all of you to know that as we go into this battle, that I’ve got your backs. I will try to get as many of you home as we can.”

A demon whose name wasn’t known by any of the family smiles up at Sam. “Don’t worry, Winchester. We’re going to win this war, because we care and because we have a good portion of God’s perfect soldiers.”

“That we do,” Sam replies. “And what does that say about which side we’re on?”

“That we’re on the right side of this war,” someone calls from the crowd.

While smiles arise in all of the troops that Sam is leading, Asmodeus looks out as his troops with a mixture of trepidation and concern. All of them seem too young for a battle like this. None of them have spent centuries waiting for this moment. Sure, hell distorted time to allow them to feel as though they have more of a chance, but he knows better. None of them have been alive for long enough that God would have to do anything but snap his fingers. 

The familiar weight of knowing that they are all doomed falls upon his shoulders once more. He can barely breath under the suffocation of the potential losses. But, he recalls the way that his father stood up for him even in front of God, and he knows that it is his turn to be brave beyond the pale of normalcy. 

The words come to him almost unbidden. “Today, we will not be fighting for our kings. We will not fight because we think it is a just cause or because we wish to spill the blood of our enemies. We will fight today because that is our destiny. Not God’s destiny or even Amara’s destiny. It is the one we made for ourselves when we accepted a human as a king of hell. We changed the fate of the world, and we will do so once more,” he screams into the hallway holding his troops. 

Cheers come from his troops. He hopes that he’ll make it home with most of them by his side. He hopes that just this once, the blood on his hands will not grow. He’s heard humans have said that there is no way to wash your hands of blood at a certain point, and he feels almost like in this instance, he’s doing the opposite of that. He’s just trying to make sure that the blood no longer increases. That might be the most redemption that he can ask for. 

Meanwhile, Ramiel stands alone. He has no backup for the healer’s tent. Because almost everyone who could heal has a better shot of helping if they’re on the front lines with the magic users. He’ll be holding steady alone. That would have bothered him once. Now, he takes this as a way of life. Nothing left to do, but hope that this will work out in the end. 

Azazel glances up and stares at his troops. A smile graces his lips. “My soldiers, my men, and all others who are with us today. Be ready for the fight of your lives. Remember that you are what stands between the world and its destruction. Let that be enough to guide you through the pain that this fight may cause.”

Dagon stands in front of the demons who have specialized in magic, and she smiles. These people have trained to be able to not just use their hands or feet or strength, but all of the magic that God allowed Lucifer to give them, and they were going to shove that right back at him. 

Crowley meets her gaze and nods.

“My brothers in arms, let’s remind God why giving your enemies magic is never in your best interests. Let us make him squirm because he doesn’t possibly know how to do anything else after what we’ve done with them. Let us make him squirm.”

“Let us make him scream,” Crowley adds. 

Dagon laughs. “Yes, let us make him lose focus on those that are fighting him directly.”

Nods surround her as they toss out different spells that they could use. That they could harness the magic in the air to bring up shields around the soldiers on the ground, while others cast fireballs into the crowd. How others might be able to rip the hearts out of men. And, she knows that they will win. For no other reason than that they are willing to fight. 

Bobby stares at his troops and shakes his head. He’s not meant to be a part of this war. He’s supposed to be a human hunter who gathers information for all the other idiots who keep trying to get themselves killed. But apparently, Dean Winchester managed to get his whole family into this mess. Now, he’s a general for a portion of the demonic army about to take on God. 

How did he let the boys talk him into this again? Everything seemed so simple when Dean mentioned a beneficial non-romantic marriage to the devil to avoid a truly awful fate. When did things get so complicated? Still, he supposes that his troops deserve to hear some words of encouragement for whatever good it will do any of them. 

“Listen up, we don’t really know what we’ll be facing. I mean we know it’ll be angels, but God could probably change their powers half-way through the battle, so we don’t know how long we’ll have to try to win the advantage. My point is, we need to be harsh. Aim to kill, don’t aim to hurt. Take them out of the game.”

Bobby pauses. “And if you get hit, make sure I know, so I can drag your asses to the medical tent. I don’t plan on letting any of you die, so don’t make me a liar.”

“Understood,” one demon says. 

Bobby nods and turns to wait for Amara and the archangels to lead them out into this battle.


	60. The Battle #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things come to a head as the army marches on.

Amara’s magic settle over every member of the army slowly. She can get all of them to the gates of heaven, but it will take most of her concentration. The fact that they’re going to him doesn’t sit well with her. That means they will be fighting in his stronghold rather than hers. Yet, she has all of the powerful players. He doesn’t have any of the beings strong enough to do some damage left on his side. She has the archangels, as the parental figure who never turned on them for mistakes. She has her knight, as the leader who didn’t let them fall when nothing else seemed like it would work. She has the armies of hell, every single one of them whereas he couldn’t even keep them in line to start an apocalypse that had been foretold by almost every interpretation of the future. She even has some of the armies of heaven, because even the ones loyal to him don’t know whether they’re on the right side anymore. 

“Amara, don’t let the nervousness sink into your magic. The others cannot feel it right now, only me because we are more closely connected, but the others will soon,” Dean whispers into her ear. 

Amara tightens her emotions as they pull out from the magic to where none of the others can feel it. “I fear a trap.”

“Well, the thing about traps is, if we don’t play into them, the opponent tends to just get more aggressive until we have no choice but to fall into that trap. Might as well go in when we’re prepared expecting the trap than get thrown into it when we’re mostly done with the fight in us.”

Amara smiles. She always forgets that Dean will have her back. Not because he loves her, though he does, but because she is the being he chose to trust, and she didn’t betray him. Her magic carries them out of hell, through the worn out planet of humans, to the gates of heaven. 

“God, come out and face us. We are here to tear down your power. The least you can do is give us the face of what we want to destroy,” she shouts allowing her magic to carry her voice across every corner of the heavens. 

“And what, dear sister, is your plan for my army?”

Dean blinks over at God before realizing that he can’t feel a single soul in heaven. Because the souls in heaven wouldn’t matter to anyone but him. He could use them to avoid getting pinned in by an army, but that wouldn’t do any good. None of them would care about the death of soldiers, but most of hell’s generals would care about the death of innocents. 

Amara doesn’t catch onto what’s happening. “What do you mean?”

Dean turns. “Get the armies down to Earth. Spread out. Try to stop them from killing as many innocents as you can,” he orders. 

The generals immediately realize what’s happening and leave. Dean has to put his trust in his children, his brother, and his father figure. Nothing else could be done for them. Now, he has to stand in front of God. A snarl rips from his throat. “And you wonder why no one trusts your side.”

“I don’t wonder anymore. I saw clearly. My son chose to corrupt all the souls that I made. I had no choice but to kill them in order to save them. Or at least, that’s what I’ll tell the survivors. That’s how I’ll build up the next world. No special beings that can try to turn my creatures. Turns out that they won’t remember the blessings of staying loyal without significant motivation,” God teases. 

Amara smiles at her brother. “You assume you’ll win.”

“You will give in to spare them death. You are predictable.”

Dean steps forward, calling forward his magic to form a sword. His eyes blazing with a pain that isn’t going to be hidden any longer. “Fun story about that, she won’t give in. She promised. That’s what we all asked for in order to be willing to come fight you, because we all know you don’t play fair. I’m willing to die today, can you say the same?”

Michael steps up next to Dean. His silence more deafening than ever before, but he doesn’t have the right words to try to scare God into potentially telling them more than what they already know. Instead, he calls forth his angelic blade and takes a fighting stance. That will tell God enough about which side of this battle he plans to be on, and if it doesn’t, well then Dean will have to come up for some fancy words for him. 

Lucifer shakes his head. He could say a million words about how God is still choosing to lay the blame on his head when this is clearly his own injustices coming back to haunt him, but God wouldn’t listen. The man lived in a delusional world where all of them were present because they had realized their mistakes and would come home. Or because they were willing to be pawns in the game that he would play. He should know better. 

“Tell me, father, if I’ve corrupted all of these souls, why is it that I am probably the most likely to defend your life?” His sword forms, but his words slice deeper than any blow from his sword. Because, if he’s telling the truth, then God will know that he has no shot left to win this war. 

“Why you?”

“Because he’s the only son that has never felt your approval. He might fall for those sweet words, and the way that you can convince us that you are the true hero of any story, still. I wouldn’t count on it after everything that you’ve done to him. Not when his husband is standing in front of you, with his sword ready to kill you. But, he’s your last hope at the end of the line,” Gabriel answers. 

God turns to Gabriel. “You could come home, son.”

Gabriel snorts. He calls forth his blade, and he lays it on the throat of God. Knowing that God could and will eventually bat him away like an annoying fly that’s decided that it wants more than it deserves. “I’ve been home.”

“Your home is here in heaven with your family.”

“My home is where my family is, you are right about that. But, my family got broken by you when you sent Lucifer to hell to deal with the mistakes he made under your instruction. So, I waited for them to come back together. Only where did that end, in hell with Dean Winchester pleading for me to come home for my brother.”

“Dean Winchester is not your family.”

“But I am his family,” Dean states. He falls back into a defensive position, since Gabriel has claimed the first blood of this fight. “If he wishes to claim me, that is his right. I married his brother. I allowed our souls to be bonded together. You do not get to invalidate that.”

“I am God.”

“And I am Darkness,” Amara replies. Suddenly, she throws herself forward. The fight is on as Gabriel is spun to the side and the clash of magic echoes through every edge of heaven as God and Amara meet in the middle for the first time since the beginning of the world.


	61. The Battle #2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle to protect humans from slightly angry angels that were instructed to kill just about anything.

Azazel lands on the Earth’s surface once more. His eyes scan for angels. He chokes down the vomit threatening to come up as he realizes that the angels that he can see are slaughtering any humans they come across. This wasn’t meant to be a war, it was meant to be a slaughter. He turns to address the troops. “Try to get in between the angels and the humans. Drive them back, then kill them where they stand. If they’ve chosen to follow God into the slaughtering of millions of innocent humans, they don’t deserve to survive as prisoners of war.”

Troops nod. So, Azazel reaches for the little radio that Charlie had prepped for him before they left for the war. He still remembers the gentle feel of her hands as she pressed it into his hands. As she told him to make it home safe, because it would matter to Dagon and Jo that he made it home before the end. 

“If anyone is hearing this, the angels are targeting humans. I don’t think this is all of their forces, so spread out,” he calls. Before he swings himself forward into the battle. His sword swipes down straight through an angel before the angel can lunge at him to smite him for his efforts. 

Dagon scans her area as her troops start leveling magical attacks. She’s already placed up a shield around the little city that they’ve claimed. She’s standing as the only thing stopping the angels from entering to kill humans and demons alike. It doesn’t matter to them anymore whether these humans had agreed to fight with the demons or not. Apparently, God was condemning them all for the actions of a few. Not that surprising. 

When her brother’s message comes across from the little device, she smiles. Her lover would help them stay connected even in these dark times. She’d try her best to try to help any of them if they called for aid. She might not have a whole lot of swing, but she would fight for them. 

“I hear you. I have a city, somewhere in Asia. Didn’t bother with the names, but I know that the angels were attacking for some reason. Probably because one of the humans on our side has family here, but I could be wrong. My troops are behind a shield, fighting from behind the protections that I can give them for now. If you start falling back, fall back to me. I’ll have a home base that isn’t hell.”

Her magic holds the shield and burns the angels as they throw themselves at the damn shield. She laughs as her magic enters them, and she rips them apart from their core. They fall on the lines of the war. She can hear screams, but they aren’t from her people not yet, which means that she’s still safe for now. 

Sam runs forward, charging with one of the angel blades that Gabriel had given him. They had the power to kill angels, although they are hardly ever used on angels because the idea of treason was so rare. He’s not really sure though in the current instant whether he’d be the traitor or them. He supposes it depends on who wins the battle. 

He hears the chatter from the coms, but since no one was actively calling for aid, he ignores it. He’s too busy leading his troops into the heat of the battle to be bothered with the niceties of trying to deal with whoever is coming out of the woodworks to offer little comments on better ground. The angels are killing his people. Not the ones that Dean has become a king for, but the ones that he joined the fight for hunters in order to save. He will kill them for that, and he hopes that Dean will get a good shot in at God for that. 

He slams the blade into another angel as his squad starts pushing the angels backwards away from the humans. Sam’s not really sure what the best way to take down an army of angels is, so he’s going with the traditional method of Winchester’s which is just kill all of the creatures on the opposing side as you. 

Bobby fires a volt from a crossbow at an angel to get him to turn to a whole bunch of humans holding bullets that were charmed by Lucifer to have the power to kill angels. He has pointedly mentioned that there wasn’t a safe way to test them, so until the first angel fell, Bobby hadn’t been confident. 

His men don’t charge forward. They try to get positions where they should be able to see as many of the angels that they can shoot down from their positions. Bobby’s main goal is to keep the focus on him and none of his men. That would be far easier, if he didn’t also have to constantly worry about an all-seeing eye deciding to take more of an interest in what is going on down on the streets of Earth than whatever the archangels and Amara are working up in heaven. 

Bloody hell, he is just an ordinary human hunter, too bad no one else seemed to have gotten that memo from the department when it was supposed to come out. Now, his crossbow catches another angel, and he’s running. He really is getting too old for this shit. He should ask Dean to retire him after this battle. Make sure that he doesn’t have to go on anymore hunts no matter what’s happening. 

Abbadon slips through the ranks of her demons, letting her body take her into a charge, drawing the angels out. They can’t really try to kill humans, if she’s demanding their presence. She doesn’t take note where the humans are compared to where the angels are. They can’t take hostages, because she knows that in war, they are not hostages, they are the difference between losing or winning. 

Her troops follow her regard for human life. None of them try to avoid areas with humans, rather they force the attention to themselves. The blood fills the street as some demons fall, but more angels do. 

The anger that slips through Abbadon’s usually cool exterior causes her to unleash a small portion of her magic. Nothing close to what Dagon’s troops were capable enough, but something that boosted the speed of all of her soldiers. They wouldn’t get away with killing her people. Any of them. 

She snaps the little walkie talkie up to her mouth. “They want a massacre, I say we give them one.”

“Explain,” Bobby says gruffly as he draws another couple angels away from the large masses. 

“God thinks that because they can smite us, they have the upper hand. I think we should prove that we can kill them just as easily. All we have to do is convince the hosts to swear to Lucifer.”

“How do we do that?”

Dagon pauses, then snaps through the comms. “Charlie, tell me you’re hooked into this.”

“You know it, darling. What do you need?”

“Get a broadcast with video out to all platforms of humans. Try really hard to get a message that even the vessels of the angels can hear. Ask them who’s side is aiming at humans, and who’s standing in defense.”

Charlie swallows hard. “Buy me some time. 10 to 15 minutes. This won’t be easy, but I’ll find a way.”

Asmodeus calls to his troops to reform in the center of a city. He licks his lips as he hears his fellow generals come up with a plan. “Easiest way to buy time for some of our fellow squads is to make the angels group here. Don’t try to wage war, just slaughter them where they stand.”

His troops follow his commands. Whereas the other troops in the cities were making sure that they let their troops fall back anytime an angel looked too close to try to smite them, his kept pushing through. Death for a death. 

The city was a mess of bodies and broken ashes of demons and angels. Nothing was safe, and Asmodeus tries to keep attention on him, since in order to smite a prince of hell, the angels would have to use most of their combined power and none of them were inclined to do so. 

“Angels are falling back from my city,” Dagon reports. 

Amadeus looks over at the amassing demons with a nod. “Well, I’ve got their attention. Try to hurry, little Charlie.”

Dagon releases a cuss under her breath. The shield won’t do any good for anyone if the angels aren’t actively trying to hurt anyone in this city anymore. Yet, she does not have the energy required to teleport her troops across many domains again. She barely managed the first bit. The shield falls. 

Her demons turn to her, and she lets her eyes close for a single moment as she tries to figure out a way out of this mess. She doesn’t really have a plan. She’s not even really sure where the plan could possibly be. 

Dean can still feel the mess of magic radiating from the current clash between God and Amara. They aren’t really fighting yet, this is more of a test of bounds. So, he has some amount of time before he absolutely has to start ignoring the desperate messages from his children as they impossibly try to stop the world from being overrun by angels. His magic covers Dagon’s demons and takes them right next to Asmodeus. 

Dagon smiles as she feels her papa’s magic swarm her. She may not have known him for long, but she knows as every single one of their family should know that if they are in trouble, he’ll do his best to make sure that they made it through. 

Her magic holds up a nice flame that burns some of the angels in the near vicinity as she turns to grin at her brother. “I heard that you might have an angel problem.”

Asmodeus throws one of his daggers at the forehead of an angel, causing them to look at the demon in shock, right before his deadly demon blade sinks into his neck. “I don’t know where you heard such a rumor. I was of the opinion I was buying time.”

Charlie crackles on the damn comm unit. Because she can give a speech. She can try her best to convince humans to accept the truth. That the people who are currently after them, aren’t the ones that they thought. But, in order to reach them all, she was hacking every government, and if she ever left hell, she’d be a wanted woman.

Slowly, she lets out her breath. She had made her choice when she came to hell the first time. She had made a bigger commitment the day that she argued for humans in front of the kings of hell. And, she threw herself into a position of power the day she fell in love with Dagon and Jo. Now, she has to prove herself. 

The video from all active cities where the angels were attacking humans came out first. No audio with that because people need to feel the horror of not knowing why angels are against them. Then, the video starts going live, and Charlie swallows her fear. 

“I know all of you that stayed on Earth thought that you would be safe. I’m sure many of you know that the demons aren’t meant to be the heroes of any story, and I won’t argue with you. Destiny said that they were meant to be the bad guys, but they had a choice. They could have left you to die. Because, make no mistake, that’s what the angels are trying to do. They are trying to kill some of you, most of you. So, that God can have a loyal few. Do not let them win. Reject God and angels. Call for the armies of hell to save you,” she says. 

Her voice cracks. “I know that you are scared. I know that right now, you don’t know who to trust. But, look at these video streams. Tell me, which side is standing in front of you, holding back the lines trying to kill you. It won’t be the side you thought.”

Jo picks up her comm as she swings across the back of an angel sliding her blade straight down their back. “Thanks, darling. That might be the best we can do.”

Slowly, the number of angels fighting them decreased. Not enough to make a huge difference, but enough that they were smiling at each other for the bright idea. Things weren’t quite as bad as they could be. Not to mention some of the humans within the cities were giving them some cover, now. 

Sam spins on his heel to punch a demon before slipping his blade into the angel’s stomach. 

Suddenly, the air shifts and all of them are standing on a different platform, with every angel they’ve already killed grinning at them. 

A voice echoes out into the air. “Time for the real fight, little demons.”

Sam closes his eyes. The voice of God ringing in his ears. He hopes without asking that his brother was still alive and fighting, because if they lost that, he’s not sure whether he could actually pull himself up enough to handle the armies of angels. 

“If they were dead,” Abbadon whispers in his ear. “Then, god would be here himself to gloat over us. Hold on to that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The epilogue, last chapter of this work, has been taking me forever, because there are so many people in this family that deserve their happy ending.


	62. The Battle #3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where the angels and Amara are ready to attack God, before Dean opens his mouth and starts trying to fix things for the hundredth time. He just can't help himself.

God lands down in front of Amara first. “Now, I’ve taken away all your little soldiers ability to get away, what do you think they’ll do?”

“Fight until they no longer can,” Amara replies. Her magic still glittering around the edges. She chooses not to try to place them back on the ground of Earth. She could, because he left that place alive, because it still holds some amount of use for her brother. He’d either start a battle with her where they went back and forth on the same move, waiting for the other to choose to break the mold and try something different. Or he’d actually decide that it would be more worthwhile if he just blew up the planet and started anew once the battle was over. 

Dean tilts his head to the side. “May I ask a question?”

“Sure, Winchester.”

“I can understand wanting to be all-powerful and stuff, you see. I can even understand how you want to rule. I get all that, but here’s the thing I don’t understand. Why did you choose fear as the primary motivator instead of love?”

“What?” God blinks in confusion. The question makes no sense. He hadn’t turned to fear tactics until long after his love ones didn’t work, all because of Lucifer’s terrible influence on all his children no doubt, but still. 

“I mean, like I know that as young archangels, all they ever wanted to do was please you. I mean Lucifer has so many issues, he would have probably fallen on his only blade for you to say that you loved him once. Gabriel wanted a parent to hold him when he was crying instead of a sibling. So, like why didn’t you use that?”

“I did.”

“You did? Okay, for a second let me pretend like I believe you. Give me one time you told any of your sons that you loved them. Give me one example of this love that you used, and I will let this go. I will trust that you did actually have a plan, and it went off the rails and ended in this.”

God furrows his brow. He had to have told his children that he loved them once. Probably right before the battle with Amara. But, he can’t find the words anywhere in his memory. Then, he’s like but he only needs a memory of saying it to one son, and he definitely told Lucifer before he sent him to the cage in hell. Yet, his memory is terrifyingly empty. 

“Amara, for the sake of me trying to do this in a painless, yet interesting matter, can you give me a time when you told each of them that you loved them?”

Amara stares at her brother, and the way that he seems to be falling into himself. “The clearest one is definitely Gabriel, because I told him that I loved him the night before the battle that God had me killed in. I wanted him to know that his actions would not be blamed. I needed him to know that before everything went down.”

“I can confirm,” Gabriel whispers. 

“I could tell you that I implied my love to Lucifer the day that I got broken out of my little personal hell. Or I could tell you of how when you screamed at him, I held him in my arms and promised him that we both loved him. He believed that I did, he didn’t believe you did. I can why,” Amara snarls. 

God shakes where he stands. “He knew that I loved him. I wouldn’t have given him the mark, trusted him with that power if I didn’t love him.”

Lucifer nods where he stands. Part of him wants to tell Dean that he doesn’t want to end this peacefully. He wants this to end in blood. He wants to finally get his revenge. He wants that real bad. Yet, he’s willing to play this game, so that Amara doesn’t have to hurt him if she doesn’t want to. “I thought that for a while. I thought that the pain of the mark, meant that you trusted me to withstand more pain than you’d ask any of my siblings. But, then I started falling from the burden. I started wanting pain, and you were so disappointed, and you never came to tell me why. You never came to offer support or love or anything else that I could have needed from you in those dark moments. By the time you had Michael break my wings and throw me from heaven, I can ensure you, I didn’t know that you loved me. In fact I was pretty sure that you hated me, and that I would complete every aspect of your apocalypse, so I could win and hurt you.”

“That can’t be how it happened,” God whispers. 

Michael shrugs. “But it is. I was there, in case you’ve forgotten.”

Amara smiles. “Michael, I told him I loved him every day since his creation until he was almost a hundred. Because, he was the first. Because, he was the first being outside of us. Then, when there were others, I made sure that I told him whenever he came by to see me,” she states. 

Michael nods. “I could never doubt your love. Although at the first moments, I really thought you did too, father. I thought that maybe you didn’t express emotions in the forms of words. Even when you asked me to throw my brother from the heavens. But, then I received a letter. A letter that offered me a chance for a family with my brothers with the truth of what happened. A brother in law who was willing to forgive me for things that he had no idea why I did.”

Rafael steps forward, and he stares at God. “You told me you loved me one day, and that was also the day that I decided that you didn’t. You told me you loved me the day you left for a while before the apocalypse. Then, you left. Michael and I sat there trying to pick up the pieces that you left. Do you think that was love?”

“What?”

“Leaving your children to pick up your mess. Leaving us to hurt each day while we tried to pick up your creations. Do you think that it was love that allowed you to believe that we wouldn’t break when you sent us after our own brother?”

“I knew you’d make it through.”

Rafael swallows hard around his spit to stop himself from lunging forward. “I didn’t make it through. If it wasn’t auntie, I’d be dead. Because I would have given every ounce of strength, I had to make sure that the remaining angels in your army knew that I didn’t blame them. That they had somewhere to come where people would love them. I’d be dead for the people you left me in charge of, that you were torturing. So, don’t claim you love me. Because if this is proof of your love, I would rather be a pile of ash.”

Amara steps to place a hand on his shoulder, grounding his pain. “I told him I loved him as I appeared from the darkness. As I tried my best to make sure that he didn’t spend his life trying to save his people.”

God jerks his eyes back and forth. 

Dean steps forward until God is forced to look up at him in the body that he chose. “Did you ever think to check whether you were doing things that made sense to the emotions that you created?”

“I didn’t think they were reasonable anymore. They caused people to turn on those they should have loved. They caused people to hurt the ones that were there for them.”

“Because your actions also allowed them to hurt the people they were supposed to care for. That wasn’t emotion’s fault. That was modeling them after yourself. Who else had responsibility for the archangels? Were they not yours? And if they were yours, surely, you cannot claim that you didn’t cause them harm. Harm that never should have befallen them,” Amara whispers, picking up where Dean started. She can see now that he’s giving her another choice. One where she doesn’t have to sacrifice herself so that the children can live. He’s giving her a way to redeem her brother. 

God whips his head and stalks up to his sister his eyes burning with rage. “Are you claiming that their crimes are on my hands?”

“Yes.”

Dean steps forward and places a hand on Amara’s shoulder. He stands facing God, and he feels nothing close to fear. He feels sorrow for the fact that he must stand here and try to reason with the man that he once would have considered the one thing that he could rely on. “Who else?”

“What?”

“You created them. You stood as the first role model. If this isn’t on you, then who could it be on?” Dean pauses. He could probably break God right now if he pushed the correct way. But, that isn’t who he is. He didn’t let Michael break, even when a part of him says that eh would have deserved so much worse for what he did to his Lucifer. He didn’t let Lucifer break when Amara came home. He didn’t let Abbadon break after all her crimes. So, he won’t let God stand alone either. “Lucky for you, I don’t believe anyone is beyond saving. You can still make up for what you’ve done.”  
“How would I do that? None of my children trust me.”

“Trust is a two-way street. So, you make the first move, because you’re the one that broke it.”

God snarls. But, he moves his eyes away from his sister to the man who has changed every single plan that he’s ever at. His anger could probably kill him, but this man is the only one that isn’t fighting. “What would you suggest?”

“Call off your army.”

God bites down on his tongue. Still, he sends a message to the angels to back off attacking any of the other army for a moment. He doesn’t tell them to stand down completely, but he’s willing to make the first move as Dean seems to think would be a better plan. 

Dean casts his eyes over to Lucifer. 

Lucifer reaches down for the little radio that Charlie had shown him how to turn on and off. “Can someone confirm whether God’s angels are stopping?”

“They have,” Dagon replies immediately. 

“Step back for now. We might be making a peace treaty rather than battling for a war that would lead to the deaths of thousands.”

“Already done,” Bobby comments. “We don’t attack people who aren’t attacking us or innocents. That would make us closer to God than to moral beings.”

God swallows. “Why does that human have an issue with me? I’ve never done anything to him.”

Amara shakes her head. “Because that’s what you’ve never understood about yourself, nor any of your creations. There are more ways to hurt someone than to hurt them specifically. I could snap Michael’s throat, right now. But, that would hurt you, even though I wouldn’t have moved against you at all. You could snap Lucifer’s throat, and that would hurt me.”

“Did I hurt him indirectly?”

“You did kill his best friend,” Dean points out.

Amara shakes her head. “We can end this. Me and you, brother. We don’t fight this out and get people hurt.”

“How?”

“You walk willing into the cage that you built for me,” she starts. 

“And be a prisoner for more time than you ever were because no one would be left to argue for me. No one still loves me out here. No, no, we will fight.”

Dean drops his head into his hands for a long moment. At least he can now see where all of the trust issues come from. “You’d have me and you’d have your sister. I can promise you that while it will take a majority of your children to convince us to let you out, I would speak on your behalf each time that Amara told me that she thought you deserved to be argued for again.”

“And I promise that I will come every month for at least a day to try to help you see the world as the rest of us do. I’d try to make sure that you knew why your children turned. Why the humans were willing to overthrow the rulers that you put there? And why a million things work?” Amara offers. 

“We wouldn’t abandon you to be in the darkness for eternity with no chance to get out. We would just try to keep you away from being able to hurt others until you understand that you’ve done so before.”

God looks in between the two of them to where Lucifer is standing. “And could you ever find it in yourself to vote for my freedom? Or would you always stand against me?”

“You have the one person that I trust more than anyone else willing to argue for you. The person that I love,” Lucifer says. “So, yes, there’s a large chance that the day you convince Amara enough that she can convince Dean, that you’ll get my vote to freedom. As your other children pointed out, I am actually the one that is most likely to offer that to you.”

God pauses, then nods. He sends another message out to his angels. “A peace has been reached. Go back to heaven, the battle is over.”

“The angels have left,” Dagon reports. 

God stands in front of Dean. “And who would hold the mark that would keep me in? Who would take that pain on themselves? Because I won’t let you do that to some poor human.”

Dean snorts. “That’s where his morals lie. Don’t worry, I’ll hold your mark. I’ve held Amara’s, and she can help me every second of the way. Plus, I’ll have Lucifer and my children and my brother to keep me in line.”

God steps into the darkness willingly. He doesn’t want to hear anymore of the stories today. He’s not sure that he could handle hearing anything more today.

Dean grits his teeth as the pain of another mark burns on his skin. He will hold onto this one just as he held the others. 

They all head home with their victorious army, with their family cheering, with smiles on their face. They’ve won this battle, and they didn’t have to actually hurt someone to do so.


	63. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened after they won the war? What does eternity look like for all of the different members of this family? Hint, they're all happy, although it takes different amounts of time to get there for each of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a huge chapter. Over 18,000 words, so be warned this will not be a short chapter like most of the ones in this fic.

**Amara**

Amara certainly never thought that she’d end up slipping in and out of heaven and hell. But, that seems to be her role more often than not. She has rooms dedicated to her in both places, as she tries to pick up the many messes that her brother made. She has her knight whenever something requires more than just her touch, but more often than not, it’s her against the world. 

Loneliness when one is surrounded by family seems odd to her. She wonders whether that’s what God felt. Why he had lost control of his senses so quickly. She knows she’ll ask the seventh of the month, when she goes to see him. The deal had been made, and she wouldn’t break her word. She wouldn’t lead the children to believe that she couldn’t be trusted either. 

Anytime that the fear consumes her, Dean would be at her side in a moment. His arms would curl around her, and he’d talk her back from the edge. He’d tell her stories from hell about how Lucifer had done some silly little thing. Or the many adventures of her grandkids. 

Dean certainly always loved with all of his being. That could be seen by her every time that she slipped, because as far as she knew, only he knew of the panic that consumed her at times. He made sure that as far as everyone else went, Amara was simply doing what was necessary. That her time locked in the darkness without anyone to talk to didn’t have any lasting effects on her. Even though both of them knew that was a lie. 

Her first conversation with her brother went horribly. They were both screaming by the end of it. Him because he saw this as an unjust punishment, because at least he had the courage to create other creatures. He at least bothered to try to find a better way, whereas she had just let the destruction overtake her. She argued that at least he had someone coming every month. At least someone cared enough to still come talk to him. She had no one and nothing. 

That day, she had gone back to hell and curled up into a ball in Dean’s room. Lucifer got back first, and he wrapped her into his arms just like Dean and pressed his lips to her forehead. “We don’t have to ever let him out. If you can’t bring yourself to forgive him, that’s okay,” he whispers into her ear. 

“No,” Dean counters walking in. “Amara’s forgiveness was never contingent on his release. Because, there are many reasons why Amara might one day want him out of that cage, but still can’t forgive him.”

Amara rolls and finds herself in Dean’s embrace. She feels the way that he’s protecting her from whatever things that she fears that are being dug out of her head. 

The month after that, Amara realizes that she’ll have to try to heal herself at these meetings, before she ever manages to tell Dean with a straight face that God has made progress. That she’ll need to work on her own problems, before God can ever work on his. Because, she has to be the one to teach him. She’s the only one that can truly relate and right now, she has no idea how she’s going to manage to do that without wanting to throw herself at the man and strangling him. 

God isn’t happy, but he understands more. He doesn’t like the cage, and he doesn’t like the idea that he put someone in there. He had never actually considered what had happened to Amara when he locked her into a box. He admits that he never really thought about what happened after he made a decision. 

He thought his word was law. Amara smiles, as she realizes that she’ll never have that problem. She’ll always have Dean there to call her down if she’s about to do something stupid. She’ll have Gabriel to remind her why she didn’t want to be all powerful. She could be. She could take up God’s mantle with ease, but she would have to sacrifice the love that her boys have for her, and she’d rather be dead than to be without that. 

It takes her 37 meetings, before she manages to finally get over her own issues enough to start working on his. That’s how many times she has to speak to him with her mind completely filled with the burning rage that encompasses her every single time, she’s forced to see his face. Eventually, that rage dulls to a bored type of anger, that it almost seems like she’s holding onto because she knows that she needs it to feel okay about herself. Then, the anger isn’t there. Sorrow, pity, and love are still present, and she knows that she can sit through endless repetitions of what’s right and wrong. That type of patience comes with the blessing of immortality. Not that she’s the only one with eternity looming over her. 

On the night, she returns to hell for the 86th time, she seeks out Dean. Dean who by then walked with the confidence of a true born king. Dean who still stood by her side for every single reason in the books, and dozens that could never be written. This is the first time that she tells Dean of her brother’s progress. Of the way that he now understands that pain can be caused through more than just physical attacks. Dean smiles at her. 

“That isn’t enough for me to say to the others that he should be allowed back into this world, and you know it.”

“I know, but this is the first time that I’m proud enough of his progress that I’m telling you that he made effort towards being a better person,” she explains. 

Dean holds her through the night. He gives her a simple list of things that he needs God to know and meet the standards of before Dean will argue for his release. One, that amends have to be made. That suffering isn’t actually making amends, that’s just a punishment for doing the bad things. Two, that the world is not something that he can manipulate on a whim. The creatures that he created deserve more than to playthings to something that is all-powerful. Three, that if he ever screws up that badly again, they will all hunt him down. 

Amara nods. These are not the next lessons that she teaches her brother. These aren’t even on her mind for a long time, but slowly she gets him to agree to the second. Because, he agrees that if he knows the morality of the rest of his actions, then he must work towards change. The first takes forever to get through his head because he balances punishment with amends. That changes slowly, as she points out by that logic, she should never forgive him. Because he never had to suffer all alone in the darkness, and he didn’t have to wait nearly the amount of time that she did before having even a glimmer of hope. The third almost broke her brother, yet he did understand by the 183rd meeting, that this was as good as he was going to get after everything he did. And that was the first day that Dean called a meeting of the family with the archangels as the voting members on behalf of God. 

Sam makes the first point of contention. “This is too soon. He might be trying to trick us. We should see what happens when he knows that we voted on his good behavior and didn’t agree.”

Most of the archangels agreed with him. All except Lucifer, who shrugs and says simply. “If aunt Amara and Dean believe that he’s changed, then I’ll be willing to let him try to prove that to me.”

The next couple meetings are a backslide. God doesn’t understand what’s happening. He knows what’s right and wrong now, and why isn’t that enough. Amara has to use every ounce of her power to keep herself from trying to blow him up right then. Because, how dare he use the concept of fairness against her. And that’s the day she realizes that while her anger no longer simmers at the mere sight of him, plenty of things are still buried within her. 

That’s how she judges the next time that she’ll drag Dean into this and make him stand up to the boys. That’s the next time she’ll drag the family together for him. When, she can say honestly that’s she’s forgiven the man that is her brother. 

On the 200th meeting, God does something unexpected. “Amara, can you tell me why you still come every month,” he asks. 

“Because I promised you that I would, when you walked into here of your own free will.”

“I should probably offer you a sincere apology then, because I wouldn’t have. Then, I wouldn’t have tried to find a peaceful solution to the problem. I am sorry. You are a better person than I ever was, and likely better than I ever will be.”

Amara chokes on her own breath. She leans towards the edge of his cage, and she places her hand against the barrier. She forgives him with all of her breath, and a weight that has been sitting on her for longer than she can even remember is lifted. 

Another family meeting, and this time the voice that objects is Rafael’s calm and cool. “You have forgiven him, and he’s trying to make amends to you. I don’t know if that will extend to others. He has often been of the opinion that you are better beings, that you are of a higher cause than he is, and I don’t want to release him only to have to go hunting because he’s decided that the only person worthy of that special medal in his head is you.”

This time, the vote is tied. Not enough to bring him back, but proof that things are getting better. That things were not the same as they once were. Gabriel and Lucifer vote for, while Rafael and Michael vote against. 

Dean stops her after that vote before she can leave to go sleep off her visit to God. While most days, she spends some time with the family, or other various tasks, she’s used to the family letting her be alone right after visiting God, because they all know that this hurts her. “Rafael is right, you’re the only face that he’s seen in these years since the battle.”

Amara closes her eyes. She’s not sure what’s she would lose if Dean pulled back on his support right then. She might actually collapse in the hall in a pile of tears. “And?”

“And, you should take me with you next time. I’ll make sure Lucifer knows. I’ll talk to God myself, and I’ll convince the others that he means well by actual appearances not just taking your word for it.”

The first time Dean and Amara go back to God, things are awful. God has some amount of anger towards Dean left in him for screwing up all of his well laid plans, and Dean has some trust issues with the man that they all should have been able to trust the whole time being the one actually in charge of messing up everything that they cared for. Neither Dean or Amara try to argue for God’s release that month, or any of the months following. 

Dean pushes against the hill that is the stubbornness of an immortal being who happens to be trapped in a cage. He pushes against the belief that those who are not at the same power level still deserve the same respect. He carves out an apology from the mouth of the insanity of God. He stops going at the same time as Amara, he shows up as he pleases and works on God. 

Amara knows that her brother won’t be free until Dean actually gets him to recognize the errors of assuming those with less power are less important. She feels relief as she knows that this isn’t just on her hands anymore. And, she realizes slowly that the reason she didn’t break is because Dean never turned his back on her. HE never went against his word to help her, he just made sure that she knew the best ways to help them. 

The 308th month came and went. Amara walks down to her children and calls the meeting herself. Dean smiles over at her. She lines up all of her arguments. All of her many steps taken. She relays all of the months, about where he began and where he was now. The faces were impassive as she spoke, and she turns to Dean. 

Dean stands up and faces the archangels. “All of you have reasons to doubt his progress, and a hundred different ones to not bother freeing him. And, if you allow yourselves to fall into that hole, you’re going to end up far too similar to the monster that you locked into that cage. He’s better. He talks to me with civility now. He even listens to the words that I say. He may still have a million things that he needs to make up for, but he can’t do that in the cage.”

Ellen glances over at Dean. “Plus, I believe from way back when Dean first stood in front of the council, God knows full well that if he screws up then Dean will go after him with all of you and won’t allow him the chance to go peacefully. He won’t be allowed to try to make amends,” she adds. 

The vote is cast. All four agree to release God, and Dean goes to do the honors. 

Amara relaxes, because once more things would be created in the universe. Both of them have roles to play, and hers had been empty for a long time. She wouldn’t destroy the creatures he made, she’d just corrupt them into wanting their own destruction. The same way her magic influenced the humans to make atomic bombs that would slowly tear apart the universe seam by seam. Because that’s a much better way to destroy than to just allow the world to no longer exist. Plus, somethings might learn how to exist in the unraveling of the entirety of existence. 

**Dean and Lucifer**

Dean leans on Lucifer as they enter their bedroom after that battle. He knows that all of his choices were the correct ones. He fought for a better path than just killing someone who hurt them, yet he also sees how those actions could hurt the ones that he loves. He’s not sure whether the consequences for the world make any sense outside of the understanding that anytime you save one person, somehow someone else has to get hurt. 

Lucifer keeps his arm tight around Dean. He’s not sure when or if the guilt will set in for robbing most of the people he loves the right to hurt God the way he hurt them. For that matter he’s not even sure whether that guilt deserves to be felt. He’d been waiting for this moment for most of his life, yet now that it was within reaching distance, he wasn’t sure where he felt the line should be drawn. 

That night all they could do was cling to each other and allow each other to draw comfort from the fact that they were together. Everything would be a little better in the morning, and they’d get better each day that they kept going forward. That night Lucifer is on top of Dean showing him how to make love with a man all night, gentle and sweet. 

Lucifer knows that come morning, he’ll have to take up his mantle of being a king again. But, that is not this day. That’s enough for him. 

They fall into a comfortable habit of Lucifer showing Dean all of the tricks to ruling hell. Before too long, Dean feels powerful and wise on his throne. Most of the family keeps their permanent rooms in hell, so Dean is also never alone. He has the huge family that he always wished for. 

The wedges that both Lucifer and Dean once thought might easily destroy them are no more. God brings up painful memories for them both, but they’ve already chosen to allow the fates to forgive and grow as they wish. Nothing withing either of them can damn a man for nothing, and God is willing to try. 

That’s why neither of them talk about whether Dean will actually speak for God the next time that Amara comes back. This isn’t one of the many conversations that they can have and still be alright with each other by the end of it. They know that neither of them have similar emotions when it comes to this issue. 

That’s also why Lucifer votes with Dean every single time. Lucifer isn’t ready to try to forgive his father. He’s not even willing to speak to the man, and he won’t even once God is free. So, he can’t be impartial. He can’t judge the process that God needs to take in order to heal himself. So, he’ll let Dean be his reasoning behind how he votes. That way he can say without any doubt in his voice that he made the correct choice. 

Most of the others disagree, but that’s not up to Lucifer or Dean. They fall into each other’s arms every night. They play the little games, and they smile more than either ever did when they were alone. 

Dean healed much faster than Lucifer. The pain that he felt from all of the issues growing up were gone long before Lucifer’s even considered revealing themselves to the whole. But, part of that is the age difference between them. They look the same age. They have the same physical age, yet Lucifer was alive before the birth of the planet, and Dean was born in the age of the 1900s. Most days the age difference doesn’t bother the at all. 

Lucifer learns how to heal by being with his children. He learns that he can be okay by making amends with each of them for everything that happened before the war. With the way that he tried to be a better father than his. 

Lucifer makes sure that his children know that his love is unconditional no matter what choices they make. Although some of his children like testing that theory every now and then. Never by killing innocents though, they stopped doing that after a while. However, Abbadon does good work corrupting people, and it makes her happy. The only rule is never trying to corrupt children. All of them agree with that simply enough. 

Not that is enough to change the human realm for good, but it’s a good start and allows for hell to get a rebranding that was necessary for all of them to continue on the path that they set themselves on. None of them would call themselves good, but nor could they truly say they were evil. 

Lucifer wasn’t surprised that one day God came to talk to him. Long after he had been freed. When the world really was a better place, this conversation had been overdue since long before the war, and everyone had been putting it off for good reasons. 

“I don’t know whether I’ll ever be able to forgive you for what you’ve done,” Lucifer says. He knows that he needs to start the conversation because if he doesn’t, he’ll hate himself for the rest of his life for allowing the conversation to start with the one that needs to be pleading for another chance. 

God nods at him. “Yes, Dean told me that punishment is not the same as making amends. It took me a long time to realize what he meant, and even longer to understand why he made sure that I knew. I’ve already been punished for hurting you, but that doesn’t make your pain go away.”

Lucifer quirks his lips up into a smile. Because of course that’s how it went. Of course, Dean made sure that while he was redeeming God that his husband wouldn’t get hurt. Because, Dean loved him above all else, even the morals that made him try to save God, the morals that made sure that God was still alive at the end of the day. “It is an important lesson to learn when one is trying to make up for the actions that they did.”

God nods again. A simple action that shows that he is listening, that he isn’t just playing a game. “I know that you don’t have to forgive me, nor that there is really anything that I can do to help you on your path towards healing, but I do need to say something. I am sorry that I never said it before. I do love you, you and your brothers. In whatever way a God can love his creations. I’m not sure that will ever be enough for either of us, but you deserved to know.”

“If you can love and still bring pain, where does that leave anyone or anything?”

“Let me know if you ever find the answer to that, I’d be interested to know.”

Lucifer curls up into Dean that night, and Dean has to take him apart in the glorious ways that only he knows how to. This isn’t one of the many times that Lucifer will allow it to be just a game. He needs his husband to help him tonight, and that’s exactly what happens. 

Years later, as they meet up for a family gathering, Lucifer thinks he might finally have the answer to that question. Being able to hurt the people you love is a consequence of loving them. The knowledge that you’ll acquire just naturally means that you hold the power to destroy them without even thinking about it. That’s when Lucifer finds himself crossing the room to his father and embracing the man. 

Nothing is perfect, but it is growing, and that will have to be enough for him for the time being because he wasn’t willing to spend anymore of his life on trying to decide whether or not to forgive god for the pain that he had caused. 

His head lays on Dean’s shoulder, and he is content with life. Dean is a king, he is a king, and hell is thriving. This is a good life, and they managed to fight their way to it. 

Dean leans into the embrace, and he smiles over at the family. 

**Sam and Gabriel**

Sam throws himself onto Gabriel’s bed once the battle is over. He doesn’t wait for the angel to come in behind them, he just walks straight to their room. He doesn’t need permission or at least he didn’t the night before the war, so he is going to take that as permission for now, because he needs Gabriel tonight. He doesn’t even know when they’ll be anywhere close to being able to get here, because all he knows is that the angels backed down. 

Gabriel lands next to him on the bed. He doesn’t offer any words at first just stares at the ceiling. Then, he finally turns to Sam with his eyes brimming with tears. “Did you know that until Amara asked, I never realized that God never told me that he loved me?”

“No. But, I’m betting you still knew that he loved you. It wasn’t the type of love you wanted. It wasn’t the type of love that you deserved, but it was love,” Sam answers. His voice bleak, but he doesn’t offer any other words. Not at first anyway. “Is he dead?”

“No, he’s locked away, just like the plan was. You know so we didn’t kill the whole universe.”

“I wouldn’t have blamed any of you, if you had chosen to just end him and hope for the best outcome later,” Sam offers. 

“We would have blamed ourselves. We still probably should blame ourselves. We didn’t fight him, Sam. We let your brother and Aunt Amara talk him down and into the locked box that Amara was held in, and your brother offered to hold the mark again.”

Sam rubs his forehead before turning to tuck his chin over Gabriel’s head and hold on. “Are you telling me that my brother is now not only going to have borne the pain of holding Amara back from the real plane of existence, but also God’s?”

“Yep.”

Sam shakes his head and kisses his boyfriend’s cheek. “Well, nothing for it now, I suppose.”

“True enough.” Gabriel turns in the bed where he can tuck himself into the little crevices of Sam with his whole body. “Can we sleep the night away?”

Sam nods. Both of them fade into sleep, and neither have any regrets of the night. In the morning, they meet with the rest of the family to figure out what happens next. 

Sam decides that Earth really does still need a protector. Demons weren’t the only things that hunted humans, and someone still needs to be there to fight off the rest of the monsters, while heaven and hell are stabilized. 

He leaves the next morning, and Gabriel waits another 12 hours before following. At first, he really thought about staying away from Earth for a while because he wasn’t the best angel in the world, and he didn’t always agree with some of the monsters that Sam and Dean found. Still, he finds that he doesn’t want to go back to sleeping alone in a bed. 

Sam accepts him with open arms as they fall into the habit of only going after monsters attacking humans with the purpose of killing them in mind. That seems to work better for everyone and some monsters end up being just fine in the world. Distantly, Gabriel thinks of the vampire that never came back in this timeline that Dean loved, but then that Dean didn’t exist either. 

Years after the battle of heaven that they affectionately call the night, Gabriel comes home to Dean lounging on his couch. He stares in silence for a couple minutes. “Problem in paradise?”

“Nope, but the baby brother needed me here for most of the day, and while I can teleport myself back to hell, I try not to aggravate the magic that holds God and using magic from Amara tends to do that. I’m waiting for either Amara or Lucifer to get free enough to come get me,” he explains. 

Gabriel furrows his brow. “Why couldn’t I take you back?”

“Because you’ll be busy in about ten seconds, when Sam gets home, and he’d be sad if Dean stole you right before he arrived,” Amara answers as she reaches out to teleport Dean straight back to hell. 

Gabriel throws his hands up because both Dean and Amara have the annoying habit to find out secrets now adays and then keep it to themselves. They both can move through time in a way that God and his creations couldn’t because they were bound by the laws of the universe, where Amara was made to break them. The fact that Dean stands as her knight both bugs him and makes him love Dean a bit more. 

Sam steps into the house and stares at Gabriel. Then, he lowers himself down to his knees. “Gabriel, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”

“Yes,” he shouts and throws himself into Sam’s arms. That night and for most of the next day, they don’t manage to leave the bedroom. While both of them have had sex before, neither of them have done it as an almost married couple. 

The wedding happens only a couple months later. They get married in hell with all of their family watching, minus God, but then Dean assures Gabriel that he knows, and that he cares. Amara could have told him that, but somehow when Dean said those words, they rang as closer to the truth, than if she had. The flowers were red, and everyone ate candy. 

By the time that God did finally get released from his imprisonment, Gabriel had learned to love himself with the help of a magical human husband. He knew that he couldn’t have eternity, but that was okay by him. 

God came by the house a couple days after being released. “I’ve heard that apologies go a long way, but that actions require more time.”

He gets a distant nod as Gabriel stares off into the distance. How dare he stand right there and dare to talk about such things. 

“So, I am sorry, my son. I should have been better, but in all fairness nothing had ever been done before, and I wasn’t good at making the rules. I didn’t know how to make them, but it was up to me to make them anyway. That doesn’t excuse anything, but I hope that it explains them.”

“It doesn’t explain anything. Because Aunt Amara who is supposed to be the one capable of breaking every rule ever made, managed to love us correctly.”

God bites down on his lip. Dean had explained that one to him too, but he never quite understood, just accepted that was the way humans would see the situation. Turns out that his children, the angels would see it that way as well. “You should know that I love you.”

“You should know that I loved you. I don’t know whether I still can. I don’t know if this can be fixed. I can try, you can try, but neither of us can guarantee results. Not after everything that has happened. Neither of us has that kind of strength.”

God nods. “I’m going to head out. I don’t want to mess with Earth. You guys have managed to heal a broken world and that deserves to survive.”

“Sounds good. I assume you’ll still be coming around, trying to patch up the mistakes that you’ve made.”

“Something like that.” God leans over and drops a pear into Gabriel’s hand. Then, he stuffs his hands back into his pockets. “If a human eats this, it will give them just enough of my power to make them immortal, but to keep all the human elements. I figured that your lover wouldn’t want to be anything but human.”

“Husband,” Gabriel corrects as he stares at the fruit.

“Ah, yes. Dean told me about the wedding.”

Gabriel turns to stare. “Would have you come to mine?”

“Yes.” With that God was gone, leaving Gabriel to his thoughts until Sam made it home. 

Sam enters a couple hours later and crosses the room to kiss Gabriel before propping his feet up. 

Gabriel leans into Sam. “My father stopped by,” he says. 

“Do I need to round up the others for a game of hunt a god, because I will?”

“Not so much. He apologized in his own way, and he said he loved me. Then, he gave me a gift.”

“What’s this gift?”

“A way for you to stay human, but still join most of the rest of the family as an ageless beast.”

Sam ate the pear willingly the second that Lucifer and Amara confirmed that God wasn’t pulling a prank on all of them. So, that as the years passed and Earth became a beacon of hope, Sam still stands with his archangel by his side. Gabriel finds this agreement to be very satisfying because he doesn’t have to do any ruling, which he was never made to do. 

**Rafael**

Rafael stays in hell for the first couple weeks. He helps make sure that all of the demons who were fighting and any of the angels with them and humans were healed to the best of his ability. And, he leaned on his brothers whenever the thought of God came creeping into his head. He could barely stand the idea of the fact that he was still there. That he would get redemption. 

Logically he knows that everyone deserves redemption and that God is no different, but this is the man who never realized he hadn’t utter the words I love you to any of his sons. Does that kind of person deserve redemption, when redemption can only come from his sons? Is that the kind of irony that the fates operate on? 

There is still one realm left that someone needs to fight for. With their god gone, and all of their role models standing for hell, well that’s bound to lead to chaos if not dealt with. Rafael tells Lucifer first about his plans to go back to heaven and patch what had been broken. These things were not on him, yet he was no longer willing to stand down and just let the crimes happen. 

Lucifer grins at him with a light in his eyes. “Hell would welcome relations with heaven with you at the head, my brother. And, if things end up going in a direction that you do not understand or that you do not want, I will of course come to your aid,” he whispers. 

Rafael heads out the next morning. Gabriel and Michael seemed to have similar objects in their future for patching up all of the broken fragments that had been left in their past. Not that any of them really wanted to take the blame for actions that were not theirs to hold, but somehow that always seems to be the way it goes. 

Rafael takes the throne almost as soon as he arrives in hell, because somehow most of the angels were waiting for decent leadership. Well, other than Naomi who was planning on finding the angels that fought against God and torturing them into the proper stance of an angel. 

He didn’t really know what to do with Naomi, because on one hand, that was evil but on the other hand, she truly still believe that they were on the side of evil and that this was how to save their souls so that God would one day be willing to love them all the same. He hates these decisions because these are issues that his father caused, that his sons were picking up the pieces for, just like always. 

Naomi stands before his throne alone one morning. Her eyes don’t betray her thoughts, yet her head tilts in a symbol of respect. “You tell me that torture is wrong no matter what side that they are on, yet I do not comprehend how. I am not the first angel to suggest it, I am not the first angel to enact plans. In fact, I would not have been the first one to succeed. So, why?”

“Just because the world hasn’t punished evil in the past, does not make it less evil. There were things that God was willing to overlook. Actions that were awful and horrid, which He didn’t want to see. I am here to fix that and make amends. You can do the same,” he offers. His voice remains soft even as he can tell that she won’t take him up on making amends. 

“May I stay? I won’t lead or follow, but this is my home.”

Rafael agrees. In the end, there are several angels similar to her who decide that heaven is their home, they’ll follow his laws although not as his soldiers or really as his subjects. Just enough that he’s willing to allow them to stay in hell, but never enough to care about them. For some reason that doesn’t bother him either. This war had causalities that had nothing to do with the battle and more to do with the mindsets of the people that needed to be won over. 

Heaven no longer had little passage ways connecting the afterlifes so that families could see other. They had huge rooms specified for each person and common areas. Rafael encourages the dead to find new people to bond with. That way none of the orphans who didn’t know their parents sat alone waiting for one friend to die so they could have company. Any and all angels were welcome to join the human social groups. He thought that might facilitate better relations between them. 

The throne weighed on his head, but he is glad to hold this burden. He patches up the angels slowly but surely, and humans tended to call him a god. He hasn’t stopped them in a long time now. Because he’s not sure anymore whether the truth would be that he’s not a god, or that he is one, just not a very powerful one. 

God gets out as he votes in favor of redemption. Rafael is pretty sure that any soul can be salvaged once it wishes to be saved. He has seen humans repent in his arms or Lucifer’s too often to believe otherwise. He’s redeemed several angels as well. Every now and then, his gaze turns to purgatory, and he wonders whether he ought to do something there, but that isn’t his place to fix. That right belongs to the one brother who waited for God before making a move. 

God stops by heaven on his first day out. He stares at the open concepts, where humans and angels meet with his son on the throne, and he gapes. He can’t find the words to try to describe the emotions that went through him as he realized that this was the same place that he had started years ago. Everything seems so different and yet so familiar. 

“Hello, father,” Rafael says, stepping down and guiding him away from any of the crowds. 

“You’ve made some changes.”

“I suppose that is one way of looking at things. I offered them a better way of living as the dead than what they had before, but I figure that you had that pieced together within seconds.”

God nods. “You look good with the crown on your head, and you were always the son that fought to protect all of them. You deserve for them to know your name.”

Rafael smiles as he glances back towards some of the kids running around a park that he had built up here in his realm. “Yes, this makes me happy, so I suppose that is good.”

“I’ve been to see Lucifer and Gabriel. Time apparently hasn’t healed all of the wounds, but then I didn’t really think it would, perhaps I was just hoping beyond hope that it would piece together some of the broken bits.”

“It could have,” Rafael says, “if any of us were actually willing to just move on and let everything that happened slide out of our memory. We can’t though. We could have before the wedding. Without Dean, we all would have forgiven you the second you asked, because you would have been the foundation of our family.”

“Some days I hate Dean Winchester almost as much as I love him.”

“You aren’t alone,” Rafael points out. His own emotions towards Dean run closer to love now, but there were days when he really wished that Dean hadn’t taught them all to never accept the bullshit of other people, because he didn’t want to know what was healthy and unhealthy. It made everything more complicated. 

“I came to say sorry, but you already know that.”

“For what it’s worth, I forgive you. You didn’t know what you were doing, none of us knew what we were doing. We were all playing with little forces, and none of us knew what any of this would do to any of us. We were just trying to be the people we wanted to be, and most of us got lost along the way.”

“I am not staying,” God continues. 

Rafael snorts. “Why would you?”

“But I would like to come visit.”

Rafael shrugs. “You can come to heaven whenever you want, but you shouldn’t expect anything from me. I don’t know whether I can ever look at you with something other than pity. I don’t know whether I’ll ever find a love or whether when I do, I’ll tell you, but you are welcome to stop by.”

God leaves, and Rafael collapses back into the happiness of the heaven that he built. Many of his people know that his sorrow could hurt them, but they trust that it won’t. Because he has never hurt them. Others have, others have aimed for hurting them, and the anger almost builds up before he glides it back down once more.

Years pass, and Rafael realizes that he’s not looking for love. He has his family, and he leans on them when he needs love and support. He doesn’t want to drag another being into the crazy network that their family has become. 

**Michael**

Michael comes off from his high of the battle slowly. His whole persona was built into being a perfect solider, yet the battle that feels the most connected to him, that he spent the most time into, was the one where he didn’t attack. Most of the players in the battle never even drew their weapons. All of this was like a strange dream that doesn’t quite fit back together when the pieces are laid out in the waking world. 

The first thing he does once the morning comes, and none of them are still holed up in their rooms trying to pretend that the last couple of days hadn’t happened or that if they had happened, that this was still just a really bad dream. He runs to Dean and throws his arms around him. He clings on to him for all that he has.

Dean catches him without falling under the full strength of an archangel due to the sheer power searing under his skin. He didn’t ask for more, and he probably didn’t want it, but that didn’t change the fact that it was there. “You’re alright. Everyone made it out of there.”

“Cuz of you.”

Dean shrugs as he tightens his hold ever so slightly. He won’t take the credit for that magical feat. Some of that laid at his feet for being willing to offer a better option than just fighting each other to the death, when no one actually wanted to start that war. Some of that laid at Amara’s feet for coming up with an example that was so simple to be proven. Some of it laid on God’s feet for being willing to admit wrong doing once it had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he had messed up way further than he had originally thought possible.

Michael stays in hell for most of the time after the battle. He tries to connect to demons, but he finds that disdain bubbles up way to easily, both in himself and in the demons. Humans don’t understand him at all. He is made of magic and they are made of blood. Such a small difference to him once, and now it is a bridge that he can’t quite shake no matter how hard he might try. And angels no longer represent what they once did for him, and he no longer represents what they once saw in him. None of them would be healthy if he was to show up back there and pretend that this was a normal sort of situation. In fact most of them would probably throw a fit just for the arrogance of him trying something like that. He wouldn’t blame them. 

He goes to Gabriel’s wedding. This time he doesn’t crash the wedding. He stands on the side the whole time with a huge grin on his face. Another Winchester into the family, and he’s happy. Once upon a time the very idea would have sent him running for the hills. Now, he stands there with all of his heart on his sleeve as he raises a toast to the grooms. 

Dean offers him a dance, and they spin around the floor. The arm drifts so that Michael can feel the strength and for just a moment, he relaxes his whole body.

“You need a reason to keep going, Michael. You need a reason to want to continue living in this whole planet of crazy.”

Michael glances around the world and shakes his head. “There’s only two people here that I believe can really understand me. And one of them is you. I don’t know how to want something. That wasn’t ever meant to be my job. I was to follow my orders. When I broke away from that, I didn’t ever think past beating God and freeing Aunt Amara.”

Dean follows his eyes across the room and leans in to draw him close. He places his lips right up next to Michael’s ear. “So, come up with a completely new reason. Find something that no one else would ever dare to do and make it yours.”

“Can I do that when I cannot find it within myself to forgive myself,” he asks. 

Dean coughs as he tries to cover up a laugh. “I always knew that you were still holding a damn grudge. I admit I thought it might be against me, but no you’re holding the damn wall against yourself. Let it go.”

“How?”

“Simple. Realize that you’ve made your amends, and you’ve earned your forgiveness. There’s nothing left to do. There’s nothing left to apologize for, there’s nothing left to suffer for. All of it is either right here in front of you, or it has all been behind you the entire time. Neither one is something that you can still hold on to.”

Lucifer slips up behind them. His eyes holding onto Dean’s as he glides into the dance making it into a trio that catches the eye of everyone in the crowd with Amara giving them a knowing eyebrow raise. “I hear there might be a pity party going on at a wedding. Unacceptable.”

Michael laughs and he leans into Lucifer just as much as he had been leaning into Dean. “Can I stay?”

“Stay for as long as you need,” Lucifer says. “Just don’t be surprised when Dean drags you into doing random activities hoping to spark some sort of reaction in you.”

Michael stays past the wedding. He even manages to put a smile on his face every time that Dean comes up with another random plan. He curls into Lucifer when his thoughts get too dark with memories of mistakes that he made as a younger angel that led to him getting hurt. He goes to bug Gabriel whenever the urge to go back to following some semblance of rules pops up on him, because Gabriel will lead him on a hunt that doesn’t make any sense and make stupid jokes and give him that structure for a day or two. He listens to Rafael. Not that Rafael ever says anything. He lets the silence speak for them both. 

The day after God is released, Michael cowers within hell. He hides within the walls and allows the grace of God to slip over him rather than finding purchase. He sits there rocking back and forth begging with his eyes for this nightmare to be over. He never thought that he’d be the most broken out of all of them, but then he guesses it makes sense because he was the one that stayed loyal to God for the longest period of time. That must hurt. 

Amara finds him and wraps him up in her arms. “You’re alright, my lovely boy. You’re just fine. God isn’t going to ask you to do anything, and if he does all you have to do is say my name or Lucifer’s or Rafael’s or even Dean’s. All of us will come for you, and all of us can give as good as we get now adays. That’ll be enough.”

He shakes in her arms. He shakes until God gets there and gently tugs him partially into his lap too. He doesn’t speak for the longest time. 

Amara breaks the silence. She barely thinks on which words she’s planning on saying before they come tumbling out of her mouth. “This is on you, brother. You once asked Dean and I why we knew so closely how bad things could get. This is why.”

God brushes the hair off the face of his oldest son with true pain in his eyes. The same tension lines every feature in his face, and he jerks his head in something that once would have looked like a nod. 

Michael just whimpers. 

“Son, there are no words to fix what has been broken. There may never be words that can fix this. Somethings cannot be fixed.”

Amara stands up as God takes all of Michael. Her eyes are filled with an anger that burns higher than anything God has faced since the beginning of their meetings, but she doesn’t turn to storm off with him. She doesn’t even turn towards Dean, she turns towards her bedroom. 

Michael watches as she leaves. “She’s angry at me,” he whispers.

“Why?”

“Because I knew that allowing you out of your locked box would cause me to go into this panic, and I let you out anyway.”

God blinks once more. “Again, I must ask why?”

Michael fights against the tears. “Because my sins are not yours. Your sins might have guided my sins, but that does not give me a pass anymore than it gave you a pass. That’s how this works.”

“No,” God argues. “No, I asked you to hurt people you loved as someone you loved. That’s how it is still my fault, my son. It doesn’t matter that you did them as my behest, because I could have made you. That’s the whole point all of the rest of them have been trying to drill into your head.”

“I’m not happy. I’m not whole, and there’s nothing in this world that can make me feel whole.”

God pushes his shoulders up. “Go to purgatory. Go help save the monsters. You see yourself as one, good for bloody you. Go save others then.”

Michael swallows harshly. “That an order, sir?”

God cracked his jaw in an attempt to not snap back at the sarcastic note that suddenly appears. This must be a defensive line that he picked up from Gabriel at some point during the many years that he was locked away. 

Lucifer pops around the corner. “No, but it is a good idea.”

“How long?”

Lucifer snorts. “Who do you think called Auntie, or do you think that on the say she knew God was going to be trying to visit us, she took her eyes off him without someone raising the alarm?”

Michael considers that for a longer moment, before agreeing with his brother. Then, he turns back to his father. “You won’t leave forever.”

“Not unless you ever ask. If you ask that I respect your boundaries and don’t contact you until you give me the all clear, I will.”

Michael nods. “I guess in the morning I’ll head to purgatory.”

“Dean made up your section of the bed,” Lucifer murmurs as they walk away. 

True to his word, the next morning he leaves for purgatory. The first couple days there cause him to want to rip out his own eyes and just admit to failure. Half of the creatures in here don’t want to be saved and the other half don’t know what the hell was ever meant to be anything but a massacre for all living creatures.

Then, he meets Benny. Benny is a vampire with manners and a damn good temper. He starts explaining how most of the creatures in here lost hope once they realized that they had to hunt to live, and then got sent here in the end anyway. If nature was against them, why were they still fighting the title of monster?

Michael understands that concept all too well. He knows the pain that can come from such things being dropped on to creatures. He starts working with Benny to get proper plans in the place.

The vampires come first, clearly. Since those are the ones that they know the most about, if only because Benny is one. Michael creates living mammals and reptiles and fish to populate the purgatory landscape, so they could feed. He taught them how much each creature could take without dying, and he explained why killing things would be terrible and violate morals. Slowly, the vampires follow suit. They start feeding without killing, they start listening for moral issues in the world without direct prompting. 

For the first time since he was alive, Michael is sure that at least one of his decisions was made on his own morals and his own mental capacities, and that the decision was sound. He grins for the first time as he comes home. He spins Dean across a dance floor and doesn’t feel the need to drop into Dean’s arms. 

The werewolves come next. They aren’t just mindless beasts when they transform. They still have mental facilities just not the ones that they’re used to, so they just went with instinct, but instinct can only take you so far when you’re a dangerous being in a world surrounded by creatures less powerful than you but that have an innate desire to make sure that you stay down and dead. He teaches them how to think and reason in both forms. 

The shapeshifters are a problem. They need to kill to have shape. They were never given one of their own. Michael believes that is the true root of the problem. Not that so many of them want to cause death, but that death is the one way that they can have a body that is there own for a period of time. That just isn’t right. 

Michael spends hours and hours on building each shapeshifter in his realm a body of their own, to whatever end that they desired, and helping them step into them. This leads to many tears being shed, and most of them swear that he is their king. He laughs because this place has no throne, and needs no throne. None of the people here would easily discount him, and he’s trying to redeem monsters. 

The leviathans don’t want to be saved at first. Michael holds no ill will towards them for that. They are creatures with enough strength to rival gods, so he can’t really blame them for not wanting to be a part of a world where that power is ignored. He’s probably have done the same if Dean had come to him before everything else. 

Instead, he stops by each day to make sure that they know of the different advantages that he’s added to purgatory, so that it doesn’t seem quite as much like a prison versus an actual place that he’d want to be in. 

Slowly, the leviathans asks for something that they can destroy. They want something that is theirs to play with as members of the darkness. Michael gives them a pit that he takes from the Greek myths, and they just trash everything that enters. But, no one ever enters without wanting to be destroyed for whatever reason. 

Michael leaves only to see his brothers and his nephews. When his aunt wants to visit, she comes to him with that smile on her face that suggests she knows just what this is to him. God has only stopped by once, before leaving. 

God lands near him again. 

Michael casts a look over to him. “I’ve forgiven myself, have you?”

“Depends on your meaning. If you mean have I forgiven you, the answer is that you never needed my forgiveness, because I never placed any of this on you. If you mean have I forgiven myself, maybe.”

Michael leans over and embraces his father. “This is a good enough life,” he whispers. That’s how he found himself spending the years with a true grin on his face. And Benny never seems to be too far away from him if he ever asked for help or someone to hold at night.

**Dagon, Jo, and Charlie**

Dagon and Jo find each other before they even think about trying to drag themselves back to hell. If only one of them was back, Charlie would probably drag them right back to find the other. Jo’s arm slides around Dagon’s waist as she leans on her. Her mouth right at the corner of her ear. “Could it be a trap?”

“Unlikely. They wouldn’t have retreated all of their ground soldiers if it was meant to be an ambush, because they couldn’t guarantee that we would stay in the same area,” she explains. 

Once Jo gets that explanation, she relaxes some of the tension in her body. Her eyes still run over every aspect of the room, allowing for any information to be gained. She needs to be able to react before anyone else, as someone who is possibly more vulnerable than others. 

Yet, nothing comes at them as they enter hell. There is no secondary trap waiting to spring out of the woodworks, and Jo falls into Charlie’s arms once they cross the wards, and she’s safe.  
Charlie catches her without stumbling and turns silently to Dagon. The question written in her eyes says it all. How many did we lose? Will our kings return? Is the war won?

Unfortunately, Dagon has no answers. She can feel that Lucifer is alive, but she has no idea whether their part of the battle is over along with her part of the battle. She leans on the wall and whistles over to Azazel. “What should we do?”

Azazel glances around at all of the demons and humans who turned to stare at him for a proper answer. He doesn’t have a great one, but then Dean walks into hell looking as though the world had been placed on his shoulders and somehow he was supposed to figure out what to do with all of that power being placed on him. 

“Go to sleep, party, however you wish to celebrate victory. We won this war,” he announces. Before he continues walking through the hall. 

Cheers take the whole kingdom traveling from hallways to nooks and crannies. Dagon slips her hand into Charlie’s free on and drags them off. She doesn’t want to have another public party where she stands in front of people. So, she takes hidden corridors and secret passages to get them to her room without anyone coming across them. 

Charlie takes the lead once they’re safe and sound in the bedroom. No one but one of their uncles could get in, and if any of them were stupid enough to come bother them right after they’d won the battle, they deserve whatever scars they happen to stumble upon, because they won the battle and now they were fighting down their terror at having come close to losing one or more of each other. 

Charlie reaches for their weapons and sets them down in a corner. Slowly, she strips them of their dangerous elements, the parts of themselves that are good for battles, but not for loving moments in the bedroom. She unwinds the tape across both of their knuckles, just in case they had to throw a punch, and she places those into the trash can. 

By the time, she’s done both of her lovers are just staring at her waiting for the next move. Neither of them take any action to try to move themselves, they seem to be completely reliant on whatever Charlie wants. So, Charlie slides down to her knees and starts slipping their shoes off. One and then the other. She hasn’t paid much attention to which one she ends up in front of first, because she switches most of the time. 

Charlie glances towards Dagon as she stands back up. “Can you fill the bathtub?”

Dagon nods once and lets the magic flow from her so that the bathtub would be filled, before leaning back into the comfortable silence of letting Charlie lead this part of their activities. 

Charlie stares at both of them, before shaking her head. She leans down to get her own boots off. Then, she slowly strips out of her own clothes, watching carefully for any reaction that her lovers might give her. While both of them smile at her, they don’t appear to have any other reactions to the fact that she’s just stripped down to practically nothing right in front of them, and she takes a deep breath. 

She reaches for Jo first. She wrangles off the body suit of armor that Lucifer made sure that the human components of their army had. She threw that to the ground shortly afterwards, then pulled the shirt off of Jo’s body. That places her lips almost right above Jo’s, so she leans down and kisses her with all of the passion that she can force into a kiss. Because for a little while, she really thought she wasn’t going to see her again at the end of the battle even if they did win. 

Lips press back into hers. Jo reaches down and catches her waist to pick Charlie up. She knows how this will end, with the three of them in a bath, washing off the grit and dirt from the battle, and fingers and tongues chasing pleasure that will remind them that they made it through this alive. She can get on board with that. She sets Charlie back down after a minute, hitches her fingers into her own pants and her underwear and throws them off to the side. 

Both Jo and Charlie turn to face Dagon, who is still mostly dressed. Now, however her eyes are filled with lust having just watch her lovers kiss while being mostly naked. She licks her lips, and starts pulling at her own shirt. 

Once, in action, none of them could be stopped. Charlie’s hands go to help make sure that the shirt doesn’t get caught on the way off. While Jo slides to her knees and presses kisses to the edge of Dagon’s pants as she drags them down and off. The sweat on her tongue isn’t her favorite taste when they’re just getting started, but given the day, she won’t complain about anything as long as she still has her lover right there next to her, where she can still pull them into her arms and kiss them all over. 

Dagon pulls Jo back up, the second that her pants and underwear are on the floor instead of being on her body. She kisses Jo as if she needs the kiss to be able to breathe. Then, she breaks away panting and turns to Charlie.

Charlie keeps her kisses light and soft as she sprinkles them all over Dagon’s skin. She just keeps kissing until she feels some of the tension in the body under her go lax. “To the bathtub. We all need to be clean before we can even think about sleep.”

“Hmm. I’m no longer feeling so sleepy,” Jo points out softly. 

Dagon turns to Jo with a raised eyebrow. “Are you saying that you would like me to ravage you before we wash off the dirt, blood, and sweat? Because darling, if you ask, you’ll receive.”  
Charlie face palms. All she wants is a nice lazy organism after everything that happened today, and if Jo and Dagon go at each other, by the time they actually get in the bathtub both of them are going to be a pile of goo, and she has some standards. Mostly that she doesn’t like other people’s blood in their bedroom.

Jo bites her lips. Because she really wants Dagon to toss her to the floor and make her come before they even consider walking towards the bathroom, but Charlie looks positively annoyed by the idea. 

Charlie waits for an answer and realizes that both of them are back to watching her. She sighs. “You want to go at it before you wash off, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Jo answers. 

Charlie rolls her eyes. “I don’t do blood and sweat that’s from workouts that aren’t sex with me, so I’m going to soak in that lovely bathtub, while you two fuck on the floor. You know where I’ll be.”

Dagon catches Charlie by her waist before she can leave for the bathroom. She kisses Charlie just as softly as she had been kissed earlier. “We’ll definitely make it up to you in a moment, darling.”

Charlie winks at them as she stalks off towards the bathroom. She has no issues with her lovers having fun without her, especially when they choose to go after each other when they come down from a fight, whether it be a spar or a war. 

Jo launches herself at Dagon the moment that Charlie enters the bathroom. She seals their lips together and wraps her legs around Dagon. She trusts that Dagon can take her weight.   
Dagon responds in kind. Fighting for dominance in the kiss, only as Jo wraps her legs around Dagon’s waist, Dagon slips a hand down her thigh where she can cup her lover’s sex. She can feel how turned on her lover was right now. She slips one finger into Jo, and Jo grinds down onto her fingers. 

Jo pulls away from the kiss that they’ve been in since the moment that Charlie left the room. Her hips are rolling in time with the way that Dagon is teasing her with only one finger, and she almost snarls, but she knows better than to comment on that fact, because Dagon will slow down. Instead, she lowers her head to Dagon’s neck and starts kissing and leaving bruising marks. 

Dagon gasps as the pleasure of being kissed on her neck rushes down her body, and she slips another finger into Jo, while kneeling to get them both on the ground. Even her legs couldn’t keep them both for long after a fight like that. No matter how much she might want to pretend that they are invincible. 

Jo smirks as she realizes that she has some control over where her weight is again as her knees are both wrapped around Dagon and close enough to the floor to bear weight. That allows her to unwind her legs so Dagon has more access to her, and so she can lean down and press kisses down Dagon’s chest. 

Dagon huffs out a laugh and presses her thumb into Jo’s clit. She holds tight against the immediate bucking of Jo’s hips that causes. She knows her lover well, and this was one of the simplest ways to prove that their love was alive, and did not die during the same battle that many other things died during. 

Jo barely breaks as she grinds into Dagon’s hand, as Dagon continues playing with her clit, until she falls over the edge. Her climax blacking out her thoughts for a moment until she comes down from the high. Then, she unwraps her legs and crawls down the floor until her head is over Dagon’s vagina. 

She licks a simple line first, just to hear the fantastic little groan that she can pull from her lover, before she starts just focusing on making her lover come in the most magnificent way that she can think of. 

Dagon rides out the pleasure that she feels having Jo in between her legs, slipping her tongue through the lips of her vagina. She holds out through it all as she climaxes. Her magic replenishes with the simple mood, as if her body accepts sex over sleep, although she longs for the bed. 

She waves her hand, and both Jo and she were much cleaner than they were before. That way they could pleasure Charlie without having to jump into the bathtub first and scrub against the many health concerns that were littering their body.

Jo walks in first. She slips into the tub to draw Charlie’s attention away from the other lover. She trails her hands up Charlie’s thigh with a smile. “Hi, darling.”

“Hello, dear.”

Dagon’s arms slip around her chest and pull her part of the way out of the water, where she’s relying on Dagon to support her instead of her legs holding her up. She leans forward and connects their lips in a searing kiss. 

Charlie pushes her weight into the strong arms of her girlfriend, who is willing holding her up. She kisses back with just as much passion, and she lets out a full groan, when one of Jo’s fingers slips inside of her to find a place to pleasure her even further. 

Dagon pulls back from the kiss so Charlie can drag in some breathes of air. “Just relax, dear. We’ve got you now.” Her fingers trailing as she speaks down to Charlie’s nipples to tease and make them sensitive, as Jo brings her closer and closer to the edge. 

Charlie tips over into her climax with a silent scream. Before she drops into Dagon’s arms rather than allowing any part of her to hold any strength. She smiles at them and whispers softly almost to low to hear. “Take me to bed.”

That’s how the start of their eternity went. Once, they were back in court with Charlie standing as the representation for most of the humans in hell, Jo being the head guard of multiple members of royalty, and Dagon being an heir to the throne. 

Months pass, and they’ve taken to ignoring most of their connection in public. When Jo is anywhere in the court or even in the rounds of hell with any member of royalty around her, she is devoid of the emotion that make her their lover. She is a solider, ready to take down any threat. When Dagon stands as the princess, she wants to reach for her lovers, but one of them has already shut down, and she can’t show favors to the other without people yelling about how this is corruption. 

Lucifer stops Dagon one night before she can slip into her room. His hand catches on her arm, and he pulls her with him. “Marry them, Dagon. Marry them, and the rest of the court can’t say shit, if you reach for Jo’s hand while I’m reading off a sentence. Marry them, and the rest of the court can see that the reason you don’t talk about the negotiations with humans isn’t because you don’t agree, but because you actively love the one speaking for all humans.”

“I can’t ask them for that much. That’s so much pressure to put on them.”

Charlie peaks her head out of the door. “First of all, you can ask us anytime you want. I know my answer, and I’m pretty sure Jo has hers. Second of all, Lucifer you dragged her away from the door, why did you lift the spell where we could hear you?”

Lucifer turns his head to stare at the shadows until his husband steps out. “He didn’t, Charlie. I did.”

Dagon laughs. Free and willing. “Thanks, papa.”

“Of course,” Dean replies as he grabs hold of Lucifer’s arm and walks backwards towards their room. 

Jo waits on their bed until Dagon enters to smile up at her. “I’ll marry you. We can ask Uncle Rafael to do the ceremony. He won’t mind.”

“And, I’ve been dreaming of my gay wedding since I was like 10, so we’ve got to have rainbows,” Charlie adds. 

“Wear a rainbow outfit. The skirt of the dress can be white, with a slip underneath that has pink. The blouse is purple. Your sleeves go to your wrists, and they are blue. Have green little gloves. Wear a yellow tux jacket. Then, orange can be your eye makeup, and red is the veil.” Dagon bows after she finishes. 

“And I will be in a plain white pantsuit. Thanks though,” Jo says. 

“Don’t worry darling, I’ll be in the black tux.”

The wedding is scheduled for less than a month out as Charlie runs around making sure that they have all of the best flowers. Both of her lovers make sure that everything happens in accordance with Charlie’s dreams. Because to both of them all that matters is each other.

As they say I do, Amara offers both humans a gift of immortality as a wedding gift. In all three of their minds, the perfect eternity at the beginning of all the time left to them. None of them go out of their way to talk to God, but when he starts showing up to family events, Charlie puts his name into the secret santa gag that they’ve been doing since the war. They don’t ask whether he knows that was them, and he never says, but they make sure that as far as they’re concerned he’s just as much of a part of this family. Everyone has screwed up, made huge mistakes, but they’re working to make the future a better place for all of them.

**Azazel and Castiel**

Azazel rolls over on his bed to find the angel sitting there twisting his thumbs under his fingers and staring at his hands. He blinks for a long moment to try to remember whether he saw Castiel after the battle, before he went and crashed. 

Cas’s head snaps up as if he heard the thoughts start swimming in his head. “You’re awake.”

“Not sure you could call my current state as awake, so much as grudging existence. I didn’t see you at the end of the battle.”

“You wouldn’t. I might have made a mistake, and now I don’t know what to do, so I came here.”

Azazel stretches his arms over his head and lets out a sigh. He really had hoped that the start of eternity once they made it through the craziness that was fighting God would be calm. Not another thing he was going to have to beg his family to help him solve. For a second, he debates his options before rolling his eyes. “Do I need to call family before you tell me what the hell you did?”

“I died.”

“Shit. Okay, how are you here?”

“I may have annoyed the nothing so much that he sent me back here, only he put restrictions on me, and they aren’t good. Now, I don’t know what to do, and I don’t know if telling you my restrictions count as breaking them. So, I’m just lost.”

Azazel scrubs at his eyes and turns to bury his face in his pillow. “Aunt Amara, please tell me you aren’t sleeping.”

“I almost never sleep,” Amara answers as her body glides through the wall into the room that Azazel claims as his own. She takes one look at Castiel and falls over laughing. 

“That bad,” Azazel asks. 

“I need you to understand that this feels like a bad joke wrapped up in the shitstorm that has been our lives. But, it is fixable, if that’s something for you. I’ll go make the nothing retract the deal while allowing him to live, because Castiel is one of mine now.”

Azazel lets out a huge sigh of relief as he leans forward. “We’re good.”

Castiel glances over at Amara. “I don’t want you to do something for me that you wouldn’t normally be willing to do. I can live with whatever consequences my actions have. I wouldn’t ask another to take those on for me.”

Amara’s hand strokes down his face. “Normally, you would be correct. I would let you deal with your own problems, but you love my grandson. And my grandson loves you, so I am making an exception.”

Castiel looks down as she disappears. “I am sorry.”

Azazel snorts. “The whole family has got to be sick of that damn word. It’s fine, Castiel. Everyone has made some stupid mistake. I killed my papa’s mother, you did whatever it is you did. Dad managed to piss off God. God fucked all of us up. Amara let them hurt her, knowing that it would break them. Abbadon killed like every single person from here to Kansas. It’ll be okay.”

“Still feel guilty.”

Azazel grabs his arm and drags him under the covers. “In the morning, I’ll convince Dean to give you the speech that he’s given all of us over the years about how we can all be forgiven for our sins.”

Castiel allows Azazel to pull him into a not so restful sleep. In the morning, the weight that has been on his shoulders since he came back to life is gone. Everything feels somewhat close to normal, and he sighs in relief as well. The guilt is still ever present in his expression, but he’s no longer under the effects. 

Azazel drags Castiel through the different aspects of hell, trying to find his papa. No one else could give the speech with nearly as much convention, or the ability to make someone believe that this is going to be alright. 

Dean stops eating, when he sees Azazel’s determined face. He sets his fork and knife down. His legs spin around in the chair, so he can face them, and he waves a hand. “What brings you to my breakfast?”

“Cas messed up and feels guilty.”

Dean snorts ineloquently at his son’s expectations here. He’s not some miracle worker. He can’t just snap his fingers and make the guilt disappear. He can just give them a decent background that might make them more willing to build up their own ability to overcome the guilt. “What’d you do, angel?”

“I might have died during the battle, trying to make sure some of the others didn’t.”

“Uhuh. Given that you’re standing here in front of me, and you look like somebody just killed your puppy. I’m going to go off a limb and say that wasn’t the end of the story.”

“I annoyed a being named the Nothing. I kept bugging him, and I refused to just lie down and accept that I was dead. I may have also constantly been talking about the fact that I would like to have time with the man I loved.”

“Cool. That sounds like a badass plan, that I should support in every situation. Why does this bring about guilt?”

“Well, you see, the Nothing said I could come back. I could still help you guys make sure that God doesn’t lose it. But, the deal was that if I agreed to come back to life, that I could never admit that I loved Azazel again.”

Dean closes his eyes for a long moment. That doesn’t stop him from seeing Azazel flinch away from his lover, but at least it gives him a moment to regain his damn composure. “Fantastic. Honestly, if you want forgiveness, you have mine. You made the right choice in the situation, and given the fact that Azazel had skipped in here, Amara probably took care of his deal with you by threatening him with actual non-existence.”

Azazel chokes on the air around him. “Are you saying that just not loving me anymore is the right action?”

“He didn’t actually have to stop loving you because I don’t think that he could have done that even if that was the deal. He just couldn’t tell you anymore. Between this whole family, we would have gotten creative in how we would make sure that you still knew. And this brought him back to you,” Dean reasons.

“That doesn’t help the guilt though. I was going to hurt him just so that I could live.”

Dean throws his hands up. Everyone in this family just had to take responsibility for actions they take that are the best option available. “Azazel, get over yourself. He came back to you, be grateful. Castiel, the guilt won’t leave easily, because you may have chosen the right action, but it hurt someone you loved. That will never be easy.”

Azazel pouts, but he grabs hold of Cas before leaving. 

Cas gives him a look full of confusion. “I thought you were angry with me.”

“I am,” Azazel says. His voice short and full of loathing. 

“Why am I still right next to you, then?”

Azazel shoves them both back into his room. His breathing comes harder. “Because all I really wanted after that battle was for you to be in my bed where we could cuddle for the next 48 hours. And, last time I checked, being angry didn’t mean that you wouldn’t hold me.”

Castiel could see then, this was a form of begging. Begging him not to leave just because Azazel’s anger was flaring, and he had every right to flee from the situation, so they wouldn’t be in possible pain. So, he takes off the suit jacket that he’d been wearing, and then takes off his shirt. He crawls into the center of the bed and holds out his arms. 

Azazel almost chooses to throw himself at the angel and make him hurt under his weight for the minute it would take him to adjust, but he stops at the last moment. He doesn’t want to be that kind of person, even when he is angry. 

Instead, he leans into the embrace softly. He accepts comfort. They don’t talk about what he’s feeling, and they don’t talk about what would have happened to them, if Amara hadn’t been able to save them. He’s not sure whether that is respectful or the dumbest thing that had ever been done. 

Days pass, and Azazel starts to notice the pattern. If he brings up his anger, Castiel will nod. He will offer to allow Azazel to scream or yell or whatever else he needs, but he never leaves. He never once stops letting Azazel fall back into his arms. He allows Azazel to press kisses into his skin at will. 

“You love me,” Azazel says out loud one day as the realization hits him in the face.

“Yes. The point of that whole deal was the fact that I loved you. I loved you before either of us were willing to admit, and I will likely love you until the end of all life as we know it. No one ever said that we were healthy. And no one ever said that I was normal in any sense of the word, but I do love you.”

Azazel falls to his knees. “You loved me enough to defy death in the middle of a battle.”

“Yes.”

Azazel starts laughing. They’re in the middle of a hallway, and his oldest sister stares at him for a long moment. 

“Azazel, are you having a mental breakdown?” she asks. Abbadon is relatively positive, she could run in the direction of the throne room and get at least one of their fathers to be here in the seconds that it appears she might have, given the absolutely insane look on her brother’s face. 

Castiel kneels down and picks up Azazel. “I believe that this should probably be a conversation for a private place, but I am afraid that he isn’t quite realizing what’s happening. So, if you could be so kind as to help me.”

Abbadon walks them back through the halls to Azazel’s room. She glares at anyone who looks like they might ask a question. While both her and Castiel could bullshit their way through any question that they might possibly have, she’s starting to believe that Azazel would lose his mind in seconds if that was even remotely suggested. 

She opens the door and walks away. She wants nothing to do with whatever almost broke her brother. If he needs her, he’ll call for her, and she’ll be there. Until then, she’s out. 

Castiel waits for a moment, before turning his head to Azazel in his arms. “Want to enlighten me on what’s going through your head?”

“You truly love me. Not just some chaotic mess of me believing that you deserve more or anything. You love me as me enough that when you died, you fought to come home to me.”

Castiel snorts in a gruff amusement, as he sits down on the bed, where he could cuddle his lover more intensely than before. “Again, yes.”

“No! You aren’t understanding. You love me, like I love you.”

Castiel blinks. He wasn’t prepared for the conversation to turn in that direction and his eyes go wide. “Excuse me.”

“If I had the choice, I would have made the same choice. But, I wasn’t thinking in terms that you loved me enough to do that, I thought you were doing it for all of the right reasons and none of the selfish ones. But, that’s not true.”

“No, my demon prince, that’s not why I did that. Apparently, I am not as pure of an angel as I could have been.”

“And, I don’t care. Marry me.”

“What?”

Azazel grins and leans up to kiss Castiel with every emotion that he’s ever felt. “Marry me, in the morning. Auntie Amara gets back from one of her meetings with God tonight, which means she’ll be in hell in the morning. We don’t have some fancy ceremony. We don’t have anyone but maybe my family present. And we just get married.”

“You are insane. But, let’s get married in the morning.”

The next morning comes, and Azazel knocks on his aunt’s door with Castiel trying to hide laughter behind him.

Amara answers the door to stare at them. “Yes, boys?”

“Marry us,” Azazel says. His voice firm and cool, but the smile on his face betraying the full range of emotions that have gone into this.

Amara throws her hands in the air and allows them inside. She turns around expecting anyone else in the family to be in the wings waiting, because surely, they told someone. But as she stares at them, she realizes that they did nothing of the sort.

Castiel glances up to meet Amara’s eyes. “He’s not really thinking to the realization of everyone else when we show up married to the family lunch, but honestly, that’s going to be just as fun.”  
Amara agrees with that logic, so she marries them. She marries them in the bedroom in hell that she has that makes her happier than she ever could have imagined. She bonds their souls together, with each of them looking as though they couldn’t imagine a better wedding. 

Lunch is an event to go down in the history books of hell as the one time that everyone thought that hell might fail the first 100 years of independent rule. Lucifer claws at his hair as he tries to find words for his son not telling him about getting married. Dean laughs as he coughs out the word finally. The archangel uncles couldn’t care, other than to offer sincere congratulations. His siblings try to kill him for not inviting them to the wedding. Ellen wrangles control back at some point, which at this point she takes great pride in as honestly, she should probably be given a huge reward for managing that. 

The start of their forever might have been the most chaotic out of everyone’s, but they are happy. They are together. And, they finally realized that they love each other in the ways that they deserve, and that’s okay. 

**Ellen**

Ellen wishes that she could still embrace her family members. She wishes as they all return from the battle that she could have been standing there to hold them in her arms from whatever horrors they unfortunately had to endure during battle. She has the heart of a mother, and this wasn’t likely to change anytime soon. 

She can go through walls, and she doesn’t always have to be visible. She checks on all of her children after the battle. Some of them require her to blank out certain memories, but she sees them all, so that they can know that she still thinks about them if they ever ask about what she did. 

She no longer needs sleep, and she didn’t have the ability to talk to the other dead in hell right now, because anyone who had any strength, had been turned into a demon for the war. She’s not sure whether that was a smart plan on Lucifer’s part, or a crazy one. Nor, does she know whether the torture and punishment part of hell was even going to stay. 

She tries pretty hard not to think about the logistics of hell very often, because the entire idea sends her into something close to a panic. She doesn’t understand what’s happening, and she’d prefer not to focus on things that she doesn’t quite remember. 

Amara finds her only a week after the battle. She sits down on the edge of the room that Ellen has slowly become used to being in. “Things are not always as I expect them. I made a deal with someone else about you, although I didn’t tell anyone what the cost was.”

“Hmm,” Ellen hums. “And why is this important?”

“I could bring you back to life. I could give you a body and make you immortal like most of your family. You would be free to do as you wished once more.”

“But?”

“But it would cost me something, I didn’t know that I was unwilling to pay.”

Ellen smiles. “You could break your brother’s magic. He is gone, thus it would be possible to reverse the crimes that he has wrought on different people, however, you didn’t realize you wanted him to still love you at the end of this.”

Amara huffs out a laugh and leans against the stone wall. Someone finally capable of matching her wit, and she’s not even sure whether that type of wit is what she’s been looking for. “Something like that.”

“You said the deal had already been made, so can you even not do it?”

Amara tilts her head. That question shows more intelligence than almost anyone she deals with. That question shows that there is a part of Ellen that could be more. “I could find other ways to fulfill that deal.”

“List my options, and I’ll tell you what I want to do.”

Amara considers Ellen for a long moment. “Option 1: you do nothing, You remain dead, and I take on a debt from Dean that could allow him to do practically anything to me at any time that he wishes.”

“Option 2: I break the magic surrounding your death. You are once more among the living. I would probably never hear my brother speak favorably to me again, and you would likely become the focal point of his rage. Not that he’d ever earn the boys forgiveness.”

Amara swallows. “Option 3: I bend the magic by making you one of the undead. You’d be one of the monsters that your boys, yourself, and your daughter hunted. You’d still have your morals, I’d make sure of that. But, all the same, I’ve learned that people do not often like becoming the monsters that they’ve called others, even if they know full well that it isn’t the truest statement that could be made.”

“Option 4: You become death. Not exactly a normal situation, but the current death needs to go for more than one reason. Actually many reasons. You’d be in command of who lives and who dies. You would still be you, but there would be secrets that you would learn that even I couldn’t reach.”

Ellen blinks up at Amara. “Why is option 4 on the list? I can see in your eyes this is the path that you’d prefer to take. Why not just make that the only option?”

“I made the deal without you. I incurred a debt without thinking about the consequences of my actions, because I wanted to be able to let Dean be happy again. I didn’t think about any of the other possible outcomes. That could have brought you pain. I do not wish for your pain to be on my hands, so I am giving you a different option.”

Ellen grins then. She has truly managed the impossible. She’s convinced Amara to be willing to consider morals, as she convinced the devil to be willing to forgive his own actions as a father. This is her family, and she could be with them only, but that wasn’t much of a life. She wouldn’t have any real goals anymore. “I think option 4 is the best one for me anyway.”

Amara throws her head back as the laughter escapes her. She always forgets how this family never seems to change from the moral backbone that they started with. Dean wouldn’t attack God without being sure that was the only option left. Ellen wouldn’t make her suffer for a mistake when the other options were just as good in her eyes. This is just another reason for this family to be the one that she wants to rely on at the end of times. 

Ellen pushes herself up. “So, how do we do this?”

Amara holds out a hand. “You come with me, I put the current death to well death, and then you resume his position.”

“We haven’t killed in so long.”

“Don’t think of this as a killing. It really isn’t. This death has been in the non-dead state since before I was locked away. He’s longing for the blissful non-existence that will come with his death, but he’s been waiting for one of two universes to come about in order to cause that.”

“Who kills Death in the universe that we averted?”

“Dean. Who else?”

Ellen chuckles. “Of course. I shouldn’t be surprised by that,” she says. 

Amara leaves the room. She relieves death of his title as quickly and painlessly as possible, before carrying the mantle down to Ellen herself. Normally, the mantle would stay dormant until a reaper was killed, but she could always change that. The glory of being one of the most powerful beings in existence, is that nothing could stop you.

The family learns when Ellen tells them. The archangels hoot and holler in support. Because that life is a good one for an immortal, even when all of them have gotten bored with the realms they support, death will have a role. They will be reliant on her for years to come, and the simple weight of that is more than enough to make all of them smile. 

Ellen holds on to her mercy through her powers. She does try to make sure that death is impartial, yet fair. Or as fair as death can be. She cannot stop the cycle of killing, but she does try to make sure that she or her reapers do not take anyone before they’ve had a chance to say goodbye. 

Ellen makes it to her daughter’s wedding just as she made it to her son’s. This time she can walk her daughter down that aisle on her own two feet while being able to hold her arm. They dance for hours in the music, and she welcomes one of her granddaughters as a daughter-in-law while snorting at the way this would be incestual in any world but this one. Life is good, because she has a reason to be alive, and she’s more than happy to stay among the living as long as she holds onto that purpose.

**Bobby**

Bobby drops back into hell. He knows full well that all he’d have to do is ask any member of the family to take care of his aging problem, and he’d be a spry hunter again. He could go back to following Sam on Earth to save humans. 

He could even go with Michael and teach the creatures that he had ended without hesitation some help. That seems like it would go a long way for redemption. He never thought he’d end up thinking in his own thoughts that he needed to be redeemed. He thinks distantly, that is what happens when you end up realizing even God has made mistakes that he needs to pay for.

He leans back onto the bed to stare at the ceiling. The way he sees it, he has two options. He can remain human, fully human, and let death take him whenever death decides that then would be a good day to die. Or, he can become a demon, a knight, or an angel. All of those other options feel like a way to cheat the life that he was given. 

He sighs loudly in his empty room. He has friends on the other side. Ones that he’s been waiting to meet ever since they passed into the great beyond, and a large part of him wants to be able to go to them. A large part of him wants to know that at the end of his life, he’ll end up with them.

Rafael knocks on Bobby’s door. The incessant thoughts are going straight to his head. He’s taken back heaven, and he has redeemed heaven, but that means most of the prayers or thoughts that would have gone to God go to him. Normally, he just puts them out of his mind, because they need to come to the conclusion for themselves, but Bobby’s family, so he’s going to have to at least try to be helpful during this situation. 

“Door’s open.”

Rafael walks in and drops down onto the chair near the bed. He barely even bothers with the little head nod to acknowledge his presence. “You’ve been thinking.”

“Really?”

“You’ve been thinking about things that directly involve me, so I’m here to talk to you, because you are family.”

“If you don’t want to talk to me about it, you don’t have to. You might be a fancy angel who has taken God’s spot up in heaven, but that doesn’t mean you owe me anything,” Bobby replies. He will not allow that burden to be weighing on him too.

“That’s not why I owe you. I owe you for Dean Winchester. That’s a heavy debt on my heart, and I’ll do what I can to help the ones he loves anytime they need something that I might be able to help with, because he did the same for my family, when my family deserved to be dropped from the highest tower and left to their own devices.”

“Ah.” Bobby rolls over so that he can see Rafael more clearly. “I’ve been thinking about death and aging.”

“I am aware.” Rafael leans over and slowly lowers a hand to Bobby’s shoulder. “You’d be surprised, but this isn’t a common situation. Normally, I’d tell you that death would come for you no matter what you do, but we both know that isn’t true. I can tell you that the decision is probably already recorded in death’s room, but none of us have access.”

“Do you know what I should do?”

Rafael lets out a soft chuckle as he considers that concept. “No. I barely know what my brothers should do about the fact that they all have different missions in life. I barely know what to tell me nieces and nephews when they ask for advice. We changed the world, but that doesn’t mean we know how to deal with the new world. That would be too helpful.”

Bobby chuckles. “I’m pretty sure I want to die, but at the same time, I feel guilty for leaving all of the family.” 

“Death wouldn’t stop you from being available if your family needed you. I have made sure of that for those who have slightly immortal family members.”

Bobby nods. “I want to see John and my other army turned hunter friends. I’m not so sure that Dean will ever forgive me for being willing to talk to John.”

Rafael smiles. “You could meet most people when you die Bobby, but you don’t have to worry about that one. John is not able to be talked to. Lucifer took care of that years before he even met Dean in this universe.”

“Really?”

Rafael shrugs. “He’s both meant to spur on the boys by both sides of fate. Plus, he’s a shitty father. Lucifer takes great pleasure in destroying terrible parents. So, yeah, he’s gone.”

Bobby can believe that. Lucifer isn’t one of those people who would allow for parents who didn’t make any attempt to patch things up in life to get more power by allowing them to become demons. At least, Lucifer tried to be a good parent. He didn’t always succeed, but he tried his best. He couldn’t give that same credit to John. The man was an amazing husband, and a poor father.

Rafael grips the shoulder beneath his hand, before standing up. Nothing more needs to be said. If Bobby changes his mind, he could find any of the family members to ask for immortality. Until such a time as death chooses to claim him, his job was done.

Bobby lives comfortably in old age in hell. He manages to get to the grandkids marry for the ones that wanted to be married. He’s almost thrilled when Jo flings herself over the edge during wedding plans. He doesn’t mind ceremony, but he’s much closer to the whole run away from feelings crew. 

Dean sits beside him closer to when death is claiming him. He doesn’t beg or barter with Bobby to stay just a little while longer. For once, he can claim with a straight face that a Winchester is going to let death have the last say for someone. That’s definitely Lucifer’s influence. 

Bobby fades as most do, with a smile on his face and a nice dream on his mind.

Rafael meets him. He glides Bobby into the ease that heaven now flows. Nothing short of a real paradise. That’s something for most of the dead souls, but especially Bobby. 

Bobby finds peace in death. That’s the best eternity that he could possibly ask for.

**Abbadon**

Abbadon cares little for the differences in the family as the years pass. She remains her father’s most eventful child. She hardly ever allows for any of the demons to hold onto a power struggle for a long period of time. 

She would call herself an enforcer of the laws, but she wasn’t really an enforcer, she just happens to be the one they call. She also stands for the souls that do require correction from their human lives. Once upon a time, that would have been punishment in the form of torture, but that no longer makes any of them believe in change. They know better.

Instead, she helps them find empathy for those that they hurt. She tries to make them see that their actions caused pain, and that they must work to make up for that. On rare occasion, the guilt of humanity fills one of them, and they ask for punishment. Most of the time, she takes that to mean that they are ready to be members of the dead community of hell, but other times, she chooses to help them get over that guilt by punishing them in a fashion that supports their crime. 

The first time she did that, she truly thought that Dean would show up to yell at her. Instead, she got his arms wrapped around her in a tight hug as he told her he was proud of her.

She has her father, and she loves him dearly. For everything that they had been through and the fact that he is the man that created her very existence. She has her papa, also, and she loves him more than she loves anyone else in the world. Because no matter what she does, he will come for her. She could make every mistake, and he’d still be right next to her to puck her up by the end of it.   
Her eternity involves actions that she once would have seen as below her, but now she sees them as a blessing. She’s more than happy to help souls learn how to be more than others. 

**Ramiel**

The fear never leaves. Not when God is in a cage, and not when he is released. The shatters of his brain are just to large to be left alone. He chooses not to try to find a new path to walk. He curls up in hell. He tends to follow different family members on different days. He doesn’t cling onto them, but he stays where his eyes can always be on them. He can’t handle being without them.  
Lucifer has looked into his head every month for years. Trying to see whether any strands of magic are left. Once, God came out of his imprisonment, he looks too. That had taken quite a few tears and begging before anyone would allow that to occur, but eventually it was decided that it was one of the only ways that Ramiel could ever have a normal life.

Nothing was left. Ramiel knows that in his heart, long before God goes ahead and tells them all. This is the protection that his brain gave him, because of the nightmares that were given. 

He doesn’t always feel safe, but he is happy. He loves his family, and he manages to make sure that they’re all okay. He tends to the medical ward when training goes to far, or when Dean and Lucifer get into a lover’s spat and decide to wail on each other until they both need medical attention.

Everyone tries to stop them, but no one succeeds. He gets a sincere apology, and he smiles. The fear no longer has a face, just a constant presence. He learns that sometimes nothing can truly fix the broken pieces of his mind, but he learns to love despite them. He will not allow those pains to be the only thing about him that they remember. 

His siblings make sure that he’s as happy as can be. And one day, things get better to the point where he goes hours without needing to see someone in the corner of his eyes. He just finds them more often than not. 

**Asmodeus**

Asmodeus finds Ellen after the battle. He sits down in front of the ghost of her with a tilt of his head. “My actions hurt you.”

Ellen nods. That much was true. She couldn’t argue with that level of statement. Nothing in there was untrue. She would and could argue that she didn’t hold any grudge, nor did she hold any blame for him, but she couldn’t argue that he didn’t lead to her getting hurt. 

“Yet, I am still your grandson, by your own admission.”

“Always,” she swears.

Asmodeus smiles at her with a glint in his eyes. “You were always the best person that anyone ever talked about. I learned from a lot of hunters over the years as I snuck into their circles, that you were a safe place. It didn’t matter what you hunted, or why you hunted. Ellen would have a cold beer for you, and she would offer kind words. You should know that you are the reason that I didn’t try to kill hunters.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t punish those who do not have a reason to be punished. You made sure that none of the hunters deserved punishment for hunting. You offered them salvation.”

Ellen raises an eyebrow. “I thought that was for God to do.”

Asmodeus shakes his head. “Only if God was the one who made the choice to make sure that these things happened, but he’s not the only one out there. I was there, and I never believed his word for things. I did believe yours.”

Asmodeus packs his bags only a week after the battle. He wants to be able to come home, but he can’t live in hell full time. There are too many memories that draw him in and won’t let go. He would never be able to be happy in this situation. 

He stands before his dad and his papa with the bag. “I’d like to be able to come home when I like, but I understand if you don’t want that.”

Dean snorts and slaps Lucifer’s shoulder.

Lucifer tosses an arm around his son to drag him into a hug. “You’ll always have a place here for when and however long that you want to. However, we might send you official requests if we need you in court for whatever reason.”

Asmodeus returns to the human realm on earth. Only he doesn’t keep his eyes out for those who need punishing like he used to. Instead, he takes a page out of Cain’s book. He builds up a nice cabin, and he learns to live without the urges to kill or punish or destroy. 

He finds over time that stories are one of his favorite things to compose. Eventually as the years passed, he chooses to write a record of the universe they are in, before turning his mind back to creative works. Always published under a different name. 

At first when he goes home, he notices nothing different. He laughs with his siblings. He teases his father. He even dances at the various weddings.

It’s the time, he comes home feeling sad and collapses into Dean’s arms the second that he sees him, that he learns that his fathers still kept tabs. Inside the bedroom that Dean pulls him into are copies of every book that he ever wrote. 

Dean holds him through the night as he was sad. Lucifer joins at some point, and Asmodeus knows that his life is a good one.

**Crowley **

Crowley perches on his tiny little throne in hell that’s hidden in his bedroom. In other worlds, he takes over, but in those other worlds, they are still evil. He’s almost happy with this better universe. He gets to be best friends with Dean without both of them having to compromise their morals at every turn. 

He gets to have Lucifer on the throne, while still making decent changes to the system. He’s not quite a member of the family. He doesn’t go the family lunches, and he doesn’t weep about the crimes of the rest of the others. He is an outsider, but he’s a happy outsider.

He has enough to be happy. That’ll be enough for the eternity, because he will be ready if they ever slip up. Or, if they never slip up, he’ll be the annoying demonic best friend, that smiles at Dean over the courtroom. He’ll be the voice for the demons who are too scared to speak in front of the large royal family. He gets enough of what he wanted that he’ll never be unhappy.

The best life, isn’t the one where every dream comes true, but the one where you can tell without a shadow of a doubt that life is good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've hit the end of this journey. If you're still here, I hope that you enjoyed this story and the way I wrote it. This was my first multi-chapter fic, and I hope that it was a good one.

**Author's Note:**

> I plan on updating this fic every week, but as a college student, that might change.


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